


Agere one shots. Sanders sides.

by Freepoetynightmare



Series: One shots. [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Age Dreaming, Age Play Little Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Age Play Little Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Age Play Little Creativity |remus Sanders, Age Play Little Deceit | Janus Sanders, Age Play Little Logic | Logan Sanders, Age Regression/De-Aging, Blood, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Little Space, Minor Dr. Emile Picani/Sleep | Remy Sanders, Non-Sexual Age Play, Other, Self Harm, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:00:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 327
Words: 198,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25411264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freepoetynightmare/pseuds/Freepoetynightmare
Summary: The titles says it all. Requests/ suggestions welcome! :DUpdates daily (or tries to).
Series: One shots. [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1853287
Comments: 2942
Kudos: 578





	1. Glitter snake

**Author's Note:**

> O>O 
> 
> Here be babies.

Janus was quiet, very very quiet. He could sneak up on the others with no problems. He knew all the creaking boards and just where to put his feet. He was quiet. At least when he was big he was quiet. 

Janus giggled as he ‘snuck’ up behind Logan with Remus, a bag of glitter in his arms. It was large neon pink and magicked into sticking to anything it touched after getting dumped from the bag.

Logan made no sign that he knew they were creeping up behind him. In truth he didn’t he was so engrossed in his work that he didn’t notice.

That was until he was suddenly covered in shiny pink glitter. He yelped and jumped up making the two trouble makers laugh.

“What...REMUS! You said that you would watch him!” Logan yelled.

Remus laughed, “I did! I watched him dump glitter on you!” He held up a hand and Janus high fived him.

Logan rubbed at his shirt. He frowned and rubbed harder. Nothing the glitter wouldn’t budge. “Remus!” 

Remus grabbed Janus’s hand and yelled, “Run!” They bolted off. Logan huffed. He would go see if Roman could help him get this off.

Roman was going to help him...Just as soon as he stopped laughing. 

Any minute now. 

“Roman.” Logan said.

The prince gasped for breath, took another look at Logan and burst out laughing again. “You’re just so...PINK!!”

“That is why I am here.” Logan said irritated.

“PINK!!” Roman laughed again.

“What’s going on?” A voice asked from the doorway. Logan turned to see Virgil with his phone out.

“Don’t!” Logan warned.

Click! Virgil smiled and bolted off. Logan grit his teeth together. 

“Roman please.”

“Ok ok.” Roman said waving his hand and the glitter vanished.

Logan straightened his tie, “Thank you.” He had a snake to find.

“Uhoh.” Janus said looking up from his coloring to see Logan in the doorway.

“Janus. Remus.” Logan said stiffly, his hands behind his back.

The two looked at each other. “Am I in trouble?” Janus asked. He regressed to around six so he knew when he messed up. The innocent face he had made Logan almost reconsider. 

Almost.

Logan didn’t say anything. He just threw the bag of glitter he had hidden behind his back over the two. He smirked. “Pay back.” 

He walked off leaving them shocked behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would love suggestion for this book! If there's some non-sexual agere stuff you wanna see, leave a comment and I'll see what I can do!


	2. In my defense

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan wants jelly

Something the others forgot was that when Logan was little he was still smart. He was also driven to get what he wanted. It didn’t matter if he was told no, once he set his mind to it he was going to get it.

One way or the other.

Patton had told him that he couldn’t have the jelly. He had put it on a shelf up where Logan couldn’t reach it or see it in the hopes he would forget about it.

That was his first mistake. Logan never forgets. 

His second mistake was leaving the room to go talk to Roman for a minute.

“I’ll be right back.” Patton promised on his way out. 

Logan nodded not looking up from his drawing until Patton left the room. Then he was dragging a chair over to where he saw Patton put the jelly.

Patton walked back in a few minutes later to see a jam covered Logan and an empty jar of crofters. 

“Logan!” Patton scolded. 

“In my defense I was left unsupervised!” Logan said quickly.

He still got a time out for eating jelly when he was told he couldn’t. 

He would do it again though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would love suggestion for this book! If there's some non-sexual agere stuff you wanna see, leave a comment and I'll see what I can do!


	3. the dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil is afraid of the dark Roman comes to his rescue.

Virgil wasn’t not afraid of the dark...when he was big.

When he was little it was a different story. There were so many things that could pop out of the dark at him. He wanted someone to save him from the darkness but none of the others knew about his regression.

So there he lay in the dark, whimpering.

A knock at his door. “Are you alright in there sir doom and gloom?” Roman asked.

Virgil whimpered again. This time Roman cracked open the door and popped his head in. “Virgil?”

Virgil pulled the covers up over his head and sobbed. Roman walked in, “Whoa. what’s wrong?”

“..Dark.” Virgil said weakly peeking out from the covers.

“Aren’t you a little old to be afraid of the dark?” Roman asked.

Virgil whimpered and cried harder. 

“Oh! No, don't cry! I’m sorry!” Roman said the pieces clicking together in his head. He snapped his fingers and a dim glow lit up the corners of the room. “There! Not so dark anymore! See?”

Virgil looked around and then nodded. “Thanks chu.” 

Roman’s heart melted a little at that.

“Sleep well, little nightmare.” Roman said ruffling Virgil’s hair.

Virgil yawned and rubbed the tears from his face. He was asleep before roman closed the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would love suggestion for this book! If there's some non-sexual agere stuff you wanna see, leave a comment and I'll see what I can do!


	4. Just supervising

Patton’s regression was very fluid. One moment he might be around ten the next he was an infant. So even if he was feeling on the bigger side he need supervision. Just in case. 

He was playing with toys on the floor of the living room. Logan sat on the couch with a book. One he was having trouble reading as he kept looking up at Patton.

“Here!” Patton said shoving a stuffed turtle at Logan. 

“I’m supervising. Not participating.” Logan said letting Patton keep his stuffie.

Patton lowered the stuffie and frowned. Logan didn’t want to play? He sighed and returned to playing but without the enthusiasm that he had before.

He didn’t ask Logan to play again, he did keep looking up at him though. After a few minutes he gave up playing with stuffies and moved onto a coloring book.

He looked up at Logan to ask if he wanted to color but paused and returned to coloring even if he didn’t really want to. 

Logan picked up that something was wrong. “Patton? Are you upset?”

Patton hesitated before nodding. 

“What’s wrong?”

Patton shrugged, “It’s ok. You don’t wanna play.” 

It clicked. Oh…

Patton had wanted him to play with him. 

Logan set his book down and slid down onto the floor next to Patton. He picked up the turtle, “His name is...Barry. Correct?” 

Patton beamed at him. “Yeah! And this is Chris!” 

Roman and Virgil walked in on them playing with stuffed animals, Logan wearing a turtle as a hat and holding too other as Patton laughed on the floor.


	5. play date

Roman and Remus should not be allowed to have playdates together. Despite swearing up and down that they’ll get along they never do.

So Patton stood between the two to stop them from killing each other as Janus sat on the couch reading a book.

“Remus no! Roman stop it!” Patton said, “Could you help me please?” He asked Janus.

The snake man looked up at him, “Why? Fighting builds character.” 

“Janus!” 

He sighed, “Fine. Remus drop the knife.” 

Remus pouted but complied. Seeing Remus without a weapon Roman lowered his. 

“Now. You two made a mess which you need to clean up.” Janus said firmly.

“I don’t wanna work with him!” Roman pointed a finger at his brother. “He tried to kill me!” Remus laughed at that.

“One.” Roman paled and both of them started picking up shreds of paper and broken crayons. 

Patton looked relieved but also annoyed. “They’ll listen to you.” He huffed.

Janus laughed, “Of course. I follow through with punishment whereas you are nonthreatening.”  
“I can be threatening.” Patton muttered under his breath. He looked at the mess and started helping clean it up.

Janus shook his head. Looks like the twins weren’t the only ones that never listened. He walked off to put his book away.

They finished cleaning up. “Cuddles?” Roman asked.

“No! Me first!” Remus yelled at that.

Patton smiled, “Cuddles huh? Well it’s a good thing I’ve got two arms!” 

They all settled on the couch. Janus came back in and all three of them curled up on the couch. 

...Maybe he should try the softer approach once in a while.


	6. secret secret part one.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Janus breaks down in front of the others.

Janus kept secrets. It’s what he does. So even after he was accepted he was still secretive and slow to give the others anything they could use against him. He was even more careful since he revealed his name and Roman mocked him about it. 

Sure he lashed out afterwards, but could anyone really fault him for fighting back? Well, Virgil did. Even after Janus apologized he still had the knee jerk reaction to hiss or insult him whenever Janus walked into a room. Something that didn’t go away whenever he showed up on screen.

So he kept his secrets and he held one closer than any other. Knowing that he would never live it down if any of the others found out. He had almost told Virgil before….And Remus has no filter. Keeping secrets is not what the chaotic trash fire did.

He locked his door twice and waited until no one would come looking for him before he would let down his guard and relax. He would get into comfortable jammies, and pull out his coloring books and plushies. He rarely regressed small enough to like a pacifier but it would happen under extreme stress.

Most of the time he would do this late at night. Always too afraid he would be summoned in the middle of his regression. 

Most of the time. 

He had been on the edge of regressing all day and he wanted to run back to his room and hide from everyone. He wanted to not be on guard and just curl up with his plushies and nap. 

Unfortunately Thomas had a problem. When doesn’t he? Janus thought bitterly as he rose up. He couldn’t skip out now, not when he fought so hard to be here.

Virgil hissed at him when he rose up next to him. 

“Oh please keep it up! It’s not getting old at all!” Janus snapped.

“Janus!” Patton scolded rushing to Virgil’s defense. 

Janus managed to not roll his eyes at that and settled instead for straightening his caplet. 

Logan rose up next to him and said nothing. He didn’t speak much and when he did it was cold and impersonal. Janus had tried to reach out to him on multiple occasions and failed every time to crack that frozen facade that the logical side had put up. 

Last to arrive was Roman who sent a quick glare towards Janus before schooling his face into a more pleasant expression.

That look made Janus want to sink out as the fuzzy head space nagged at him. He shook his head slightly to get rid of it. He couldn’t leave...He had to stay focused. Stay big. Just stay big. Stay-

“What do you think, Janus?” Thomas asked.

Janus looked around and everyone was staring at him. What happened? Did he zone out?

“...Yes?” 

“What do you think?” Thomas repeated. 

Before Janus could ask him to repeat whatever he needed advice on or try and bluff his way through it until he figured it out Virgil spoke up.

“Tsk! I don’t know why you want to hear from him anyway!” Virgil said. “He’ll just try and complicate the matter until he gets what he wants!”

“I only want what’s best for Thomas!” Janus said, his voice a bit squeaky.

Everyone stared in shock at his tone. Roman broke first. He snickered. “Oh? Is that so?”

Janus huffed. He didn’t notice that he had slipped. But he was now solidly in little space and regressing fast. “I do!” He insisted with a small stomp of his foot.

“Ok. Why don’t you let the grown ups handle this?” Roman said teasing. He expected Janus to snap back at him. Instead he got very very quiet.

“Roman that wasn’t very nice.” Patton said firmly.

Janus missed whatever Roman said next; he was too busy trying not to cry. 

Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry!

“Janus?” He heard Logan say from next to him. He glanced sideways at the logical side whose face was pinched in concern. “Are you alright?”

That’s what broke him. Not the harshness from the others. No, it was the unexpected kindness, and from Logan of all of them.

A few tears managed to fall before he wordlessly sunk out.

He got halfway to his room before he ran into Remus. 

“J-anus! Guess what I...what happened?” He asked when he saw the state Janus was in. 

“Nothing.” Janus said fighting to keep his voice low as he pushed past Remus. 

“Janus wait!” 

He didn’t stop until he was in his room and the door was locked. He slid down and tucked his head against his knees and sobbed. His hat falling off onto the floor. 

Someone knocked and he froze. “Janus?” 

He held his breath. He couldn’t tell who it was. He just waited until they left before he got up and got into his jammies, grabbed a plushie from his pile and curled up on the bed. He hesitated before he pulled out his paci. 

He had cried in front of them! He acted like a child! Would they figure it out? Logan was smart, he was surely going to pick up on it. The only question is would he tell the others or not. 

Janus fell into a fitful sleep.

\---

Logan stared at the space that Janus had just occupied. He had been crying as he left. As he looked up he knew that the others noticed that too. Roman had been in the middle of (begrudgingly) Apologizing when Janus left.

“I-I didn’t think..” Roman sputtered.

Virgil was just sitting there in shock. 

“Was he...crying?” Patton asked looking around to confirm what he just saw.

Thomas was rubbing the back of his head. “Well that didn’t go as I expected.”

“Should someone go check on him?” Virgil asked slowly. 

“Like you care.” 

Everyone turned to Logan. 

He cleared his throat. “That was out of line. I apologize.”

“Logan…” Patton started.

“I should go.” Logan said sinking out. 

No one tried to stop him.

He saw Remus on his way to Janus’s room, he had a baffled look on his face. Logan knocked a few times, “Janus?”

There was no answer, though he could swear he heard a soft sobbing before he knocked. He knocked again knowing Janus was in there.

He waited but when no answer came he left to his own room his mind replaying the events that took place. Trying to figure out just what was going on with the snake like side.


	7. secret secret part two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan confronts Janus, cuddles ensue.

The next morning Janus made sure to get up before anyone else and got a small breakfast before hiding in his room. He stayed in there all day despite the fact that everyone knocked on his door at least once. 

He would go quiet and wait for them to leave before even breathing. He stayed in his jammies and stayed on his bed mostly. He didn’t want to go out there. Not now that they knew something was going on. 

Now that they might know exactly what's going on. He couldn’t face them! He couldn’t stand to hear them mock him for this. At least..not yet. 

He was a master of masks. He could hide what he was feeling if he tried hard enough. If he just focused enough he could block everything they throw at him out. 

Nothing they would say could hurt him. He practiced schooling his face in front of the mirror. Not that he needed to, it was just an excuse at this point to not go out. It was clear that he was avoiding them and the longer he put it off the worse it would be. 

He would of course deny it as long as he could. Brush the incident under the rug and try to make them forget his slip up. Still he doubted it would be that easy. 

So he practiced until he was ready. And he was ready.

He was ready for insults and mocking. For them to belittle him for something out of his control. He was ready to meet them on their terms. 

He was not ready to step out of his room and right into Logan. 

\---

Logan pieced it together fairly quickly. He noticed how Dec-Janus would not only not participate in ‘childish’ activities, he would practically run from them. His habit of slurring his speech slightly when tired or stressed. He would hug a pillow when he sat on the couch and thought no one was watching.

Age regression was only a theory but there was a fair amount of proof pointing to it. Still Logan wanted to be sure, so he waited.

“Hello.” Janus said his eyes flickering between the ends of the empty hallway and Logan’s face as if expecting more sides to pop up. 

“Janus. I would like to talk to you if that is agreeable.” Logan said stiffly.

“What about?” Janus said dropping into a bored tone as he crossed his arms. As if he didn’t care at all about Logan had to say.

Logan didn’t buy it. “About your age regression.” 

Janus paused. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He lied smoothly.

“Why don’t we talk in your room?” Logan suggested as Janus’s eyes flickered to the ends of the hallway again. Logan stepped forward to enter the room and Janus’s arm shot out and blocked his way.

He couldn’t risk Logan seeing something that could confirm what he probably already knew. He…

Janus looked at Logan’s sympathetic face. 

He already knew. 

Janus lowered his arm, “Fine. Come in.”

Logan nodded once before walking in and Janus shut the door. 

“I have not told anyone else if that is what you are concerned about.” Logan said after scanning the room and turning to face Janus.

“....I don’t appreciate it.” He muttered.

A small smile formed on Logan’s lips. “How young do you regress to?”

“And I’ll tell you that..why?” Janus asked.

Logan paused, “Alright. A trading of information. I regress to around seven.” 

Janus froze. This wasn’t what he expected. “You...too?”

Logan nodded, “Now..About you?”

Janus hesitated before speaking, “It depends.” he said slowly. “Sometimes I’m bigger, other times not so much.” 

“That is...frustratingly vague.” Logan said shifting on his feet.

“Well sorry I don’t really care to notice just how old I feel!” Janus snapped. 

Logan started to essay something and then changed his mind, “I take it you’ve been going through this alone?”

“Yes...Haven’t you?” Janus asked, baffled. He had never heard of it before, surely none of the others knew.

“No. Patton and Virgil help. Roman knows.” Logan said shortly.

Janus was stunned. “And...they don’t think it’s…” 

“Abnormal?” Logan supplied. “That would be rather hypocritical.”

Hypocritical…. “You mean they also…?” 

“All I’ll say is that they’ll understand better than you seem to expect.” Logan said smoothly.

Janus didn’t respond. He didn’t know how to respond. He wasn’t ready for this. He didn’t think he would find any scrap of acceptance or understanding. 

The whole thing was throwing him into a state of mind much younger than he wanted right now.

“I think you should go.” Janus said quickly. He wanted Logan gone. He couldn’t be here! Even if he knew.

Logan frowned and titled his head slightly. “Is something wrong? If I have offended you in anyway that’s not what I-”

“No.” Janus said, shaking his head panicked. “Go please.”

Realization dawned on Logan’s face. “Janus are you regressing?”

“I-...” Janus hugged himself. He wanted to be alone. He wanted a hug. He wanted Logan to leave. He wanted Logan to stay.

“It’ll be ok.” Logan said softly, reassuringly.

Janus looked at him for a second before throwing himself into Logan’s arms. “Stay please.”

“Are you sure-”

“Stay!” Janus said firmly.

“Ok. I’m not going anywhere.” Logan promised. 

Janus relaxed. Then frowned as he pulled back. “What’s wrong?”

“Clothings yucky.” Janus supplied. Logan looked at Janus dressed in his usual outfit. 

“Do you have something more comfort you would like to wear?” Logan asked.

Janus dropped down and pulled a box out from under his bed. Inside was all his little gear and a pair of yellow and black pajamas. 

“Do you need help to-” 

“No I gots it!” Janus said quickly. 

“Ok...Should I step out while you…” The offer died on Logan’s tongue as Janus looked so scared at the mention of him leaving. “How about I just turn around?” 

Janus nodded. Logan turned and waited as Janus changed.

“Done!” Janus said. Logan turned and noticed that the buttons on his shirt were done wrong and the pants were inside out, but made no comment on this.

“Good job.” He praised.

Janus beamed. Then he frowned, “Now what?”

“Well what do you want to do?” Logan asked.

Janus looked away, shy. It was a minute before he responded, “Cuddles?” He asked.

Logan smiled, “I think we can manage that.” 

Janus smiled and climbed onto his bed. He patted the bad next to him and Logan climbed on as well. 

Janus was quick to cuddle up to him and rest his head on Logan’s chest. He was asleep within seconds.

Logan lay there holding the little and wondering just how Janus would respond to this when he woke up.


	8. group play date 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What’s worse than only one not regressing? All of them regressing at once.

Patton was sitting on the floor next to Virgil, as the youngest two of the bunch they were playing with building blocks. Well, Patton was playing with building blocks, Virgil was watching as he sucked on his thumb having regressed last there had been no one to get his paci for him.

Janus was curled up taking a nap on the couch. Logan sat with his legs tucked under himself as he played a game on his phone. 

Roman was running around away from Remus, the two having gone from play fighting to real fighting. Roman had his sword out and Remus was throwing ninja stars at him. 

One of the stars barely missed Virgil and knocked over Patton’s tower. Another embedded itself in Logan’s phone. 

“Remus!” Logan yelled. 

The twins froze. Patton started crying causing Virgil to cry. Janus woke up at the noise. 

“Oops!” Remus said smiling. 

“You broke it!” Logan yelled waving his phone around. He had almost won! Now he couldn’t even play anymore.

“Mean!” Patton said pointing to the knocked over blocks. 

“What happen?” Janus asked, looking around. 

“I told you!” Roman scoffed, turning to his brother. He and Remus regressed to the oldest of all of them. Remus is just a tad older than Roman. 

“You shouldn’t have pushed me!” Remus said, defending himself.

Roman didn’t respond inside he turned away from his brother and walked over to Patton and Virgil. “Hey it’ll be ok? We can build it again ok?”

Patton calmed down, “Ok.” He agreed. As Patton was no longer crying Virgil stopped too.

“What about my game?” Logan asked Roman holding up his phone.

Roman looked at it. If he was bigger he could fix it. It would be easy to fix, but right now he was too young. “We can fix it later.” He reasoned. “Do you have something else you wanna do?”

Logan shook his head and huffed crossing his arms.

Roman frowned. He didn’t know what to do. Think what would Patton do when he was big?

“Hug?” Roman offered. Logan begrudgingly accepted the hug. 

As everything seemed fine now, Janus went back to sleep.

“Now, could you help Patton build a new tower?” Roman asked Logan.

Logan nodded and sat down with the younger two. Roman smiled proud of himself for handling it.

He turned back around and found Remus gone. 

\---

Remus was in his closet, knees tucked to his chest. Roman wasn’t going to want to play with him anymore. Not after he ruined everything. He ruined it all! Just like he always does!

He felt rotten and not in a good way. He shook his head, if he was bigger he wouldn’t feel bad about this. So all he had to do was get big again.

Easier said than done. 

By the time Roman found him he was crying from the effort of trying to force himself to be big again. 

“Remus? What’s wrong?” Roman asked.

Remus shook his head, “I don’t want to be little anymore.” 

“Why not?” Roman asked sitting down on the floor next to Remus.

“I feel bad.” 

“You mean guilty?” 

“I don’t like it.”

“Maybe if you apologize you’ll feel better.” 

“I don’t want to! I just want to be big and not feel bad anymore!” Remus yelled.

“What if when you get big again you still feel bad?” Roman asked. Remus froze. He hadn’t thought of that. 

Remus groaned and dropped his head, “I hate this.” He muttered.

Roman sighed and patted Remus’s head. “Come on. It won’t be so bad.”

Remus didn’t respond. 

“It’ll make you feel better.” 

“Ok.”

Remus took Roman’s hand let him lead him back into the living room. Roman nudged Remus forward.

He walked over to where Patton and Logan sat working on a tower. “Umm...Hi.”

Logan glared at him. 

“I just wanted to say...I’m sorry for ruining your stuff.” He said to both of them. He shifted on his feet uncomfortably.

“Ok.” Logan muttered. 

Patton smiled and seemed to accept the apology. “Help?”

“You...want my help?” Remus asked, surprised. 

Patton nodded and handed him a block. Remus looked back towards Roman. Roman smiled at him and so Remus sat down and helped build another tower. 

Roman’s regression didn't last long after that. He looked around the living room and took a few pictures discreetly before fixing Logan’s phone and giving it back to him. He got Virgil his paci and put a blanket over Janus.

He turned on the t.v to play Steven Universe and watched as all of them slowly drifted up onto the couch. Cuddling together. He got them drinks and took another bunch of pictures. He would have to share them with Patton later.

Right now he had a show to watch with a group of Littles.


	9. Peaceful.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Repression can be bad. But what about regression?

It was a quiet evening, which was strange as Remus was there too. They were watching Lilo and stitch and were a fair way into it. Remus had yet to make a single disturbing comment. His eyes were glued to the screen. He looked… peaceful. 

“Remus, you ok?” Patton asked.

Remus looked up at Patton and blinked, “Of course Daddy!” He said, winking. Patton sighed. 

Remus glanced back at the t.v screen and the peaceful expression showed up for just a second before he shook his head and jumped up. “Well this was fun! But I should get going. I have eyeballs to pickle!” He said cheerfully. 

Virgil shuddered and Patton gagged. Logan rolled his eyes and Roman groaned. Janus’s on the other hand was staring intensely at the Duke as he looked at the t.v. screen once more before leaving.

He looked almost...wistful.  
\---

The next morning Remus was up first. Or judging by his drowsy state he hadn’t slept.

“Morning Remus.” Roman said stiffly.

“Mornin.” Remus mumbled, rubbing his eyes. Roman paused before he poured a second cup of coffee to give to Remus. 

“Here. It should wake you up.” Roman said softly.

Remus took a sip and grimaced. Roman raised an eyebrow, “Not trashy enough for you?” 

Remus sighed, “Just… tired.” 

Roman frowned again at the tone of voice. Was he…

“Good morning Remus, Roman.” Logan said walking in. “Are you finally working together.”

“Like I would work with him!” Roman said his previous train of thought was gone.

“Sorry, Roman is a bit too PG for my taste!” Remus said before downing his coffee and smashing the cup over his head. 

“Remus! Don’t break the dishes!” Patton yelled as he made his way into the kitchen. 

Remus cackled and ran off. 

Patton sighed and Roman waved his hand, the remains of the cup vanishing. Patton frowned “At least he’s ok.” He muttered under his breath.

“What was that Patton?” Logan asked.

“Nothing.” Patton said he looked over at Roman, searching for something in his face.

“What?” Roman asked. 

Patton shrugged. “I’ve just...got a weird dad feeling.” 

Roman took a sip of his coffee and tried to ignore the nagging feeling in the back of his mind. 

\---

Remus’s head was swirling with bloody images and for once he wanted them to stop. The blood and gore and sexual thoughts were too much. Too...adult.

He shook his head trying to focus solely on the conversion everyone else was easily keeping up with.

“Have you tried murder?” Remus offered out of thin air. He didn’t even know what they were talking about.

“Remus!” Patton said.

“We’ve gone over this. We aren’t murdering anyone.” Virgil said.

“He has a point. If you kill him then he can’t hurt Thomas’s feelings and it’ll be better in the long run.” Janus said.

“Janus!” Patton yelled.

“We are not killing anyone!” Roman said. “Yet.” He said eyeing his brother.

“Ever!” Patton said.

“Ok.” Remus said his head suddenly fuzzy.

Janus looked up at him. Remus was suddenly very still and his face was more...Peaceful again. 

Remus shook his head and frowned. He looked confused. Janus glanced over to Roman to see if he was seeing this too.

“Well now that… that’s over with. How about we move back to the topic at hand?” Logan said to straighten his tie.

“Right! Thomas should-”

Remus stared at Patton, he couldn’t seem to understand half the words that the father figure was saying. This was worrying him. He started to panic a little. 

Virgil shot him a glare. Why? He didn’t do anything? That wasn’t fair!

“Remus?” Janus asked softly. 

“Ye-yeah?” Remus said.

“How about we go somewhere else ok?” Janus asked softly, holding out a hand for the duke.

“O-ok.” Remus said timidly. He didn’t notice that everyone was staring at him, only that as they left Roman followed them. 

Why he mad? Were they both mad? Was it because his brain was being weird.

They got to Janus’s room and Janus had Remus sit down on his bed. Remus made no comment about any lewd activities. He couldn’t even think of any if he tried. He was fuzzy and… small.

“You mad?” He asked.

Janus and Roman shared a look. “No. We aren’t mad.” Roman said softly.

“We just want to know why you didn’t tell us earlier.” Janus continued.

Remus tilted his head to the side. “Tell you what?”

“About your regression.” Roman said.

“What’s that?” 

Janus and Roman shared a look. “It’s when someone feels younger than they are.”

“Do you feel like that?” Roman asked. 

“I guess?” He shrugged his shoulders, “I dunno.” The movement caused him to realize that he would much rather not be wearing his normal outfit. 

“Do you want to get into something more comfy?” Janus asked. Roman already summoned a stitch onesie.

“Yes please!” Remus said reaching for the new clothing. 

It was fairly easy to get him changed. “How do you feel Little Duke?” Janus asked.

“Better...I guess I do feel smaller. But...I don’t know..It’s new?” Remus said slowly, afraid of saying something wrong.

“You mean you’ve never felt like this before?” Janus asked.

Remus shook his head. 

“Ok….that’s fine.” Roman said quickly as he noticed that Tears started to spring up into his brother’s eyes. “I regress too.”

Remus stared in shock, “Really?”

Roman nodded. Janus nodded too. “I do as well.” 

“So….It’s not.. Wrong?” Remus asked in a quiet voice.

Roman shook his head. 

“Not at all little duke.” Janus said, pulling Remus into a hug. Remus leaned into the hug, content. He yawned.

“Looks like someone’s tired.” Roman said.

Remus nodded. 

Janus chuckled. “Ok. Nap time for the Duke.” 

Remus didn’t complain he did however hold on to Janus and not let him leave. “Stay?”

Janus’s heart melted a little. “Of course Little one. I’m not going anywhere.”

Roman turned off the lights and inched his way out the room so he didn’t disturb the sleeping Duke who once again looked… Peaceful.


	10. Peaceful part two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a much needed talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me- Makes a one shot book for one shots.  
> also me- but what if I filled it with multi chapter stories?

Roman walked back to the living room and the other three’s eyes were all on him. “What?”

“Did Remus regress?” Logan said cutting to the chase.

Roman nodded, “Yeah. For the first time it seems.” 

“Well that’s all of us.” Logan said nodding. 

“Is he doing alright? The first time can be pretty scary.” Patton said tugging on his caridain sleeves. 

“He’s asleep with Janus.” Roman said.

“What’s he like?” Virgil asked.

Roman shrugged, “I think he was too tired to really tell yet.” 

The other’s nodded. “Well we’ll just have to wait and see.” Logan said.

\---

Remus woke up from the strangest dream. There was not a single death. He was like a kid again, but also not? And Roman and Janus took care of him. Ha! Like that would ever happen!

He opened his eyes to see Janus’s chest. He titled his head up and found a sleeping Janus. Both of them were fully clothed thank god! He wasn’t sure how well Janus would handle it if they-

What a minute...What was he wearing? Is that... a onesie???

He carefully slid out of the bed and stirpped off the blue garment and put his normal outfit back on. 

“Remus?” Janus’s sleepy voice met his ears.

“Hey snaky.” Remus replied.

“Are you feeling bigger?” 

“Not sure what you mean by that but..I’m back to normal.” Remus said.

“Good. That’s good.” Janus said waking up fully.

“So…” Remus started. 

“Are you alright?” Janus said at the same time.

Remus paused then smiled, “As trashy as ever J-anus~”

Janus huffed and nodded. “Good. We should go talk with the others about this.”

Remus stiffened, he did not want to go see the others. Especially Roman. 

“It’s ok to be nervous.” 

“I’m not nervous!” Remus argued his voice slipping into a higher pitch.

Janus raised an eyebrow. 

Remus looked down. Janus held out a hand which Remus took without thinking.

When they walked out the others stopped talking and all turned to face them.

Remus panicked. “What’s up fuckers?” He yelled.

No one said anything about his use of profanity. That’s new.

“Would you like to sit down?” Logan offered.

Remus’s eyes widened. He looked away from everyone as he took a seat on the coffee table, tucking his feet up under him. He wanted to chew on something. 

“Do you have any questions?” Roman asked, breaking the silence.

“Of course!” Remus said smiling. “How much deodorant do you think it would take for me to explode from eating it?” He asked.

Patton reached over and put a hand on his shoulder. “We meant about age regression.”

“Why would I care about that? It was a one time thing right?” The duke asked. He looked around. No one responded. “Right?” He asked again.

“Most likely no.” Logan said. “Judging from the rest of us you will regress again. Possibly soon due to the high levels of stress from the unknown situation and repressing it this long.”

“I don’t repress.” Remus argued. “I say whatever is on my mind at all times! Like needles in an eyeball you can’t ignore me! I’m always like this!” 

“And that’s your problem.” Logan said.

“Kiddo...It can be tough to deal with that all the time. Your brain needs a rest sometimes!” Patton said. Virgil nodded in agreement.

“And that’s ok.” Patton said firmly before the Duke could speak.

The duke stood up. “This was fun but I should-”

“Sit down Remus.” Janus said firmly. 

Remus dropped. Both physically and mentally. He dropped his eyes to the floor and started tapping his fingers against his legs. He glanced up at Janus and winced at the upset face he was making.

“Sorry.” He said softly.

“Aw. It’s ok! No one is mad at you.” Patton said soothingly, shooting Janus a look. Janus was quick to agree.

“I’m not mad.”

Remus frowned, “I don’t like this.”

“Like what Kiddo?”

“Head’s funny. Stupid.” Remus added.

“You aren’t stupid for regressing.” Logan said.

Roman nodded, “Logan does. Does that make him stupid?”

Remus shook his head slightly. He pulled his knees up to his chest and started biting on his thumb nail. 

Virgil summoned a pacifier and Handed it to the duke. “Here. Use this.” 

Remus put the rubber teat in his mouth and immediately bit it off and swallowed it. He jumped as Virgil yelled, “No!” He whimpered.

“Don’t worry. That’s not the worst thing he’s ever eaten.” Janus said stepping closer to Remus and pulling a teething ring out of his pocket. He handed it Remus and took the remains of the pacifier.

Remus put it in his mouth and bit down as hard as he could. He barely made a dent in the tough rubber. Remus made a happy noise and happily bit at the rubber ring.

“Awww!” Patton gushed. “How little do you think he is?”

“Young enough that his normal clothing is not the best thing for him to be wearing.” Janus said in his caregiver voice. “Why don’t we get you into that stitch onesie again?”

Remus nodded the ring hanging from his mouth. 

Janus helped him change and then they settled down to watch a movie. 

“What do you want to watch?” Logan asked.

“Peter pan.” Remus said shily half hidden in Janus’s side.

Patton came in with a sippy cup of apple juice. “Here you go Kiddo!”

“Thank you.” Remus said, taking the cup.

“Aww! He’s better behaved than Roman.” Virgil said with a smirk.

Roman made an offended noise. “Ah? Excuse me?”

“You do tend to be a bit of a brat.” Logan stated.

Roman huffed and dropped down onto the couch with his arms crossed, proving their point for them.

Remus giggled. Roman’s lips twitched. “Are we watching a movie or not?” He asked.

Virgil rolled his eyes and started the movie. As the opening credits played Remus’s eyes slid close. He fell asleep peacefully.


	11. peaceful part three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus vores a bug

The park was a lovely place. Filled with laughter and fun. Patton loved playing on the swings or running around looking at the plants. 

Today however he wasn’t here to play, he was here to watch Roman, Remus, and Virgil as they ran around the playground. It wasn’t a real playground, how could they go to one of those? No, instead it was another of Roman’s creations. A mix of real and imaginary that made it more magical than a real park could be.

Janus was sitting on the other side of the playground under a tree reading a book. Patton had offered for them to sit together but Janus declined. Saying that it would be better if they spread out so they could keep an eye on the littles from both sides of the playground.

So Patton sat alone with his thoughts as he watched Remus sit on the ground picking strange plants and looking at bugs. Virgil and Roman had been on the swings and were now playing tag. 

They ran past Remus almost knocking him off. Patton couldn’t see what happened from where he was but he could see that whatever happened it had upset Remus. 

His lower lip trembled as he started crying. Patton was over to him in an instant.

“What’s wrong?”

Remus didn’t respond, instead he climbed into Patton’s lap and tucked his head against his chest. Patton hugged the duke, “Hey. It’s okay.” 

Remus’s crying calmed after a minute. Patton looked up as Virgil and Roman came over to see what was going on. 

Remus looked up as well and broke out in new tears. “They killed him!”

“Killed who Kiddo?” Patton asked.

“Stinky!” Remus said pointing to where he had been sitting. Patton looked over at the patch of dirt that Remus had pulled all the plants from. All he saw was a squashed bug. It looked like it had been a stink bug.

“Oh..” 

“Sorry.” Roman apoligzed. 

Remus turned his face away from his brother as he cried. Roman shifted on his feet and looked over at the bug. He got down on his knees and put his hands over the dead bug.

A second later he picked up a freshly not dead bug and held it out to Remus. “I fixed it!”

Remus looked up at him and then down at the bug in his hands. Remus’s face broke out in a grin. “Stinky!”

He carefully took the bug and held it in his hands. 

Patton nodded in approval to Roman and he beamed before running off with Virgil.

“What’s the problem?” Janus asked as he sat down next to them. Remus crawled out of Patton’s lap into Janus’s still holding the bug. 

“Stinky! “Remus said, showing Janus the bug. “Ro killed him but then he brought him back so it’s ok.”

“Oh I see.” Janus said nodding gravely. “And what do you plan to do with stinky now?”

Remus frowned, “I gotta keep him safe.” He said carefully, hugging the bug to his chest. 

“How will you do that?” Janus asked, ready with the suggestion that they put stinky in a tree so that he would be safe.

He was not ready however for Remus to pop the bug in his mouth and swallow. He smiled. “Safe.”

Janus and Patton looked at each other. Silently agreeing to not explain to Remus right now that you can’t keep something safe by eating it. And that he just killed stinky.

“Can I play tag too?” Remus asked pointing towards Virgil and Roman.

Janus nodded, “That sounds like a great idea!” Remus ran off. The Caretakers looked at each.

“He...ate him.” Patton said.

“Let’s just hope he forgets before he wants Stinky to come out and play.” Janus said.

“We should probably find a backup bug for that.” Patton said.

Janus couldn’t argue that that was a good idea. He just didn’t want to go bug hunting. He sighed, “Fine. Let’s get started.”

That’s why Logan found them crawling around in the grass looking for a stink bug.


	12. Baby siting.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan fights off regression while babysitting Janus.

He just had to watch Janus while he was regressed. It was something he did all the time when Patton or Roman were busy. Why should this time be any different? They were just out shopping and would be back soon. It was fine.

So why did this time feel different?

Logan shifted in his seat, his clothing felt weird and uncomfortable. He kept glancing up at the rocket ship and astronauts that Janus was playing with. He couldn’t keep his eyes on his book much less read it.

Focus, he told himself. 

His eyes drifted across the page in front of him not really reading it anymore. He frowned and closed the book. He looked back towards Janus. Janus smiled up at him and held out a toy.

It wouldn’t hurt to play with the toy- With Janus! He was only doing this for Janus. Logan joined Janus on the floor much to the little’s delight. Janus wasted no time setting Logan up with his own Astronaut and rocket ship.

It wasn’t until Logan had relaxed quite a bit and was making rocket noises that he figured it out. He froze and slowly set the rocket and Astronaut down. Janus looked at him confused.

“Youz ok?” 

“I’m fine.” Logan said, noting that his voice had risen in pitch slightly. He cleared his throat. 

He grabbed his book again and returned to his chair. He opened the book and started to read. 

He tried to read.

He kept trying to read.

Why was this so difficult? He felt frustrated and tears pricked at his eyes. He didn’t even notice until Janus was handing him a tissue.

“Wha- Janus?” Logan said. As Janus looked at him holding out the tissue.

Logan took it with a quiet thanks and dried his eyes. Janus nodded and then held out the rocket ship.

“Play?” He asked.

Logan smiled, he really really wanted to! It’s just..

He wasn’t a little… was he?

He blinked. He was displaying a number of childish behaviors and seemed to be reacting like Janus did when frustrated while Little. 

He shook his head, He had to stay clear headed. He was the only adult in the house at the moment.

It was another hour before the others got back and Logan was at the end of his rope. Despite Janus being on his best behavior he was tired and he just wanted a hug.

“We’re back!’ Patton cried. He walked into the room and smiled at the two on the floor, “Hey there Kiddos!”

That did it. Logan started crying. 

Patton froze in shock as Janus gave a long sigh and went to get another tissue. Patton snapped out of it and got down on the floor next to Logan, “What’s wrong?”

“What happened?” Roman asked from the doorway.

Logan just opened his arms, “Hugs!” He cried.

It clicked. Oh. “Oh sweet heart.” Patton pulled Logan into his lap. “Are you feeling little?” 

Just then Janus crawled back with a tissue and handed it to Patton. “Thank you little one.”

Janus frowned and pointed at Logan, “He’s sad.”

“Yes. He is.” Patton said as Logan’s crying calmed down. He yawned. 

“Oh. Are you tired kiddo?” Patton asked Logan. 

“Come on Janus. Let’s go play in the other room.” Roman called. 

Janus watched Logan for a second before patting his head then crawling over to Roman.

Logan looked up at Patton, “I do good?”

“Yes baby you did good. You can sleep now if you want.”

“Mkay.” He said closing his eyes and leaning against Patton’s chest. Patton smiled and carefully took off Logan’s glasses setting them to the side.

Logan fell asleep in his arms and Patton didn’t mind one bit. It was something he was going to be getting used to after all.


	13. It's easy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Janus babysits Patton and Remus.

It started when Janus made a comment that watching Littles can’t be that difficult and that he could watch both Patton and Remus no problem. Roman and Logan shared a look at this but agreed to let Janus try. 

Janus wishes he never opened his mouth about this.

“Remus stop licking the markers! Patton get that out of your mouth!” Janus said as he took the crayon from Patton’s lips and replaced it with a pacifier before he could whine about it.

He was running ragged from just these two. Who would have expected Remus to be better behaved than Patton? He didn’t when he agreed to watch them.

Remus started to draw again then froze and put the marker back to his mouth. “Remus!”

“It’s not working!” Remus said holding the marker out. Janus frowned and grabbed the marker. He scribbled at the edge of the paper. Nothing. 

Oh. That explained the licking. 

“Ok I’ll get you some new ones. Just watch Patton for a second ok?” He said gathering up the dried out markers. 

Remus nodded and turned to the younger of them. 

Janus left the room and for just a second to grab working markers.

He did not expect Patton to be gone by the time he got back. “Remus where’s Patton?”

Remus looked around and shrugged, “I dunno.” 

Janus rubbed his forehead. “Ok. Just.. just stay in this room!” Janus said handing Remus the markers.

He took off searching for Patton. He couldn’t have gotten far!

It took over twenty minutes for him to find Patton asleep behind the dryer. How did he get back there?!?

He had to move the dryer out of the way to get to Patton, he picked him up and took him back to the living room. He put him on the couch and glanced at Remus and then did a double take. Remus had colored over all of the paper he had been given and then moved onto the Coffee table.

He had stayed in the living room. Janus reminded himself before he could snap at him. 

“You colored a lot didn’t you?” He asked in a tense voice.

Remus didn’t seem to notice, he beamed and started pointing to all the gorey things he had drawn on the coffee table and holding up pieces of paper to show him. 

By the time Roman and Logan got back Remus had curled up in the corner of the couch to take a nap too and Janus was half way through scrubbing off the coffee table.

“Did it go ok?” Logan asked, checking on Patton who was sound asleep. 

“What do you think?” Janus asked, pausing in his cleaning.

Roman looked over the table and nodded, “Some of his better work. Let me guess you left him along?”

“Well… Patton ran off when I stepped out to get Remus more markers.” Janus said defensively.

“You find him behind the dryer or in the back of his closet?” Logan asked.

“...Dryer.” 

Logan chuckled to himself. He glanced at Roman who was smirking. “Not as easy as you thought?”

“Fine! You were right this is tougher than it looks!” Janus snapped, “Happy?”

“This wasn’t even a bad day for either of them.” Logan shook his head in mock disappointment. 

Roman laughed. Janus just went back to cleaning firmly telling himself that he would not be babysitting ever again.


	14. Five days.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one is quite a bit longer than my normal stuff. Also there is some blood mentioned.

“Five days!?!” Janus cried.

“You’ll be fine.” Logan assured him. “It’s unlikely for them to regress too much while we’re gone.”

“Or they will.” Roman said, shrugging.

“Roman that isn’t helping.” Logan said.  
“I can’t do this!...What about Virgil?” Janus asked.

“He’s going with us.” Roman said. He looked over and found Janus was almost hyperventilating “Relax. You can handle this.”

“Because I did so well last time.” Janus said, taking a deep breath.

Logan frowned and put a hand on his shoulder, “You did extremely well for your first time. And have done well with them since then.”

“I had back up if I needed it.” Janus muttered.

Logan and Roman shared a look. They didn’t want to let on how worried about this they were. If they did they would have to cancel and they couldn’t afford that at the moment.

“Look at me.” Roman said. Janus looked up. “You’ve got this. We’re a phone call away if you need any help.”

“Right….Ok.” Janus took a breath. “It’ll be fine right?”

\----

**Day one.**

It was fine, until Remus regressed in a bad mood.

“Please don’t throw things!” Janus said as Remus chucked another toy at him.

“I want Roman!” He yelled.

Me too, Janus thought. He pulled out his phone and called. He got Roman’s inbox. Frustrated he left a message to call back asap and then turned back to find Patton with his thumb in his mouth.

Great he was regressed too. Any and all backup was gone. “How about an ice cream?” Janus bargained.

Remus paused in the act of reaching for another toy. “Ice cream?”

“If you behave you can have an ice cream.” Janus said.

“About me?” Patton mumbled around his thumb. Janus looked at him. He had to have his paci around here somewhere!

“Umm..Yeah you can have an Ice cream too.” This wasn’t going to end well.

Roman managed to get back to him by the time he was tucking Remus in to bed and Remus talked to his brother on the phone. He promised that he would be good. (Yeah right.)

Seeing as he let Remus talk on the phone to Roman, Janus called Logan and Let Patton talk to him. It however had the opposite effect that it did on Remus. Instead of being happy and ready to sleep as soon as the call was over Patton started crying as he looked around For Logan.

Great. Note to self don’t do that again! Janus thought as he held Patton and tried calming him down.

It was an hour before Patton cried himself to sleep and Janus managed to tip toe out of the room.

He was exhausted and was feverishly hopping they weren’t regressed tomorrow.

**Day two.**

He was woken up at two in the morning by someone poking his side. He rolled off to find Patton staring at him. “Yes?”

“I had a Nitmare.” Patton whispered.

“Oh...Do you..wanna..sleep in here?” Janus asked slowly, unsure what he was supposed to do.

Patton nodded and crawled into bed with Janus. He curled up against him and fell asleep again.

He did look cute when he was asleep. Janus thought to himself. Maybe this isn’t that bad.

He drifted off to sleep again.

He woke to the yelling. Patton was gone.

Shit.

He bolted out of bed and was off towards the yelling.

“I didn’t mean too!” Remus yelled.

Patton was holding his hand and crying. Broken glass covered the floor. Janus’s heart crawled up into his throat as he panicked. You can handle this.

“It’s ok. It’s just a little cut.” He said, looking the wound over. “We can put a bandage on it and it’ll be ok.” He promised.

“I’m hurt too.” Remus said, rubbing his head. Janus looked at him and paled. He had a much larger cut on the side of his head.

“Your brother is going to kill me.” He muttered under his breath as he took them both to the bathroom to get them cleaned and bandaged.

Remus’s cut wasn’t bad, just long. After they were all taken care of Janus set them down to watch some t.v while he cleaned up the broken glass.

He finished up and went to get them breakfast. Cereal and juice is a good breakfast right?

He forgot to give Patton a sippy cup and he spilled his juice all over himself and the carpet.

This was fine.

He took Patton to get some clean clothing, “Stay here.” He told Remus. It worked last time, it would work again right?

“I no wanna change!” Patton said crossing his arms.

Janus groaned, “But don’t you want to wear something not wet?”

“No!”

“What about your onesie?” that was pajamas but at this point Janus just wanted to get him into anything else.

“I can be cat?” Patton asked.

“You’ll be the cutest cat of all!” Janus promised. Patton giggled and agreed.

It took longer to get him changed then he would have liked. By the time he got back to the living room Remus was gone.

Janus set Patton in front of the t.v, put a towel over the wet spot on the carpet and set off to find Remus.

He checked Remus’s room, the bathroom, the kitchen, his room. He knew he wasn’t in Patton’s room; they were just in there!

Then it clicked. Roman’s room.

He walked in and froze as he saw Remus drawing...all over Roman’s paper work at his desk.

He didn’t need to be told that those papers were very important. And they were ruined now.

“Remus!” Janus yelled.

Remus’s head snapped up.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Coloring!”

“What about staying where I told you to stay?” Janus demanded.

“I got bored.” He said, shrugging.

Janus felt frustrated tears prick at his eyes. He took a deep breath before he could say something that he would regret. “Let’s go color in the living room with coloring books. That sound fun?”

“Ok!” Remus said getting up and running out of the room.

Janus glanced back towards the papers and reminded himself to apologize to Roman when he got back. Hopeful Remus didn’t destroy anything too important.

The rest of the day went no better. It was a series of accidents and temper tantrums that Janus calmed down with ice cream or sweets.

By bed time he was ready to lay down and sleep for a week.

**Day three.**

Janus woke up with his head feeling fuzzy. He shook his head a few times and looked at the clock. His stomach dropped as he saw that it was almost ten in the morning.

If he was lucky they slept in just as late as he did and everything was fine.

He was not lucky.

He walked into the kitchen and almost had a heart attack as he watched Remus pour some kind of mixture into a pan. He forgot to turn the stove on thankfully.

Still judging by the egg shells in the batter that it wasn’t edible. Remus smiled at him. “Hi!”

At that Patton looked up from where he sat on the floor with a plastic container and a wooden spoon. He had a fair amount of the batter stuff on his sleeves and judging by the messing spoon he was the one that stirred it all together.

“What you doing?” Janus gasped.

“Pancakes!” Patton cried before hitting the plastic container with the goop covered spoon.

Janus nodded. Don’t cry. Everything is fine. You’ve got this.

“That’s great! Why don’t you go play in the living room and I’ll finish them up?” Janus said in the softest tone he could manage.

Remus nodded and dropped the bowl. It splashed all over Patton. Who started crying.

Janus felt a few tears leak out as well.

“Oops.” Remus said.

Janus bite his knuckle and took a shaky breath.

“Janus?” Remus asked looking at him. Janus opened his eyes.

“I’m fine.” His voice sounded strange. Distant. “Why don’t you go play and I’ll clean up Patton.”

Remus frowned but left the room. It took a while to get Patton calm. Janus gave him a bath and put him in a large t-shirt. One that Patton had stolen from Logan at some point as it had NASA across the front.

Janus put him in the living room with Remus and went back to the kitchen. He wanted to curl up at the sight of the mess.

“You can do this!” He told himself firmly as he began cleaning. It was almost noon by the time he was done.

“Pancakes?” Patton asked from the doorway. They needed to eat.

“Of course. But it’ll take some time. Why not eat some fruit first?” Janus said, his voice still had that strange tone to it.

“Mkay.” Patton said.

Janus gave them Blueberries and milk while they waited. He went back to the kitchen and was moving on auto pilot as he mixed up the pancake batter.

He turned the stove on and waited for the Pan to heat up. Once it was right he reached for the bowl and…

Knocked it off the counter.

He stared at the messy floor he had just cleaned.

He broke down sobbing.

“Janus?” Remus asked coming to see what the noise was. Patton close behind.

Janus didn’t look up he just kept crying, he didn’t know it at the time but he had regressed. And he had regressed hard! Younger than Patton.

“He ok?” Patton asked.

“No. Call Roman.” Remus said.

“Ok!..how?” Patton asked as he grabbed Janus’s phone from the table. It was locked. Lucky Remus knew the password.

Patton didn’t call Roman, he called Logan as that was the last Person Janus had called.

After a couple rings Logan picked up, “Janus is everything ok?”

“Hi! It’s me!” Patton said.

“...Patton? Where’s Janus?” Logan asked.

“He’s crying.” Patton said.

“What happened?” Logan asked.

“We tried to make pancake and got it everywhere!” Patton explained.

Remus took the phone. “Hi. Janus is little.”

“..Janus...Regressed?” Logan said, stressed out at the idea of three unsupervised littles alone.

“Yeah. He’s even littler than Patton. I don’t think he talks.” Remus explained.

“Remus listen very carefully. You are in change and you need to take care of Patton and Janus ok?” Logan said, “We’ll be back as soon as we can get a flight back.”

“Ok.” Remus said.

Logan hung up.

“Hey Jan Logan’s on the way!” Remus said.

Janus just kept crying, huddled in the corner. Remus frowned then he thought of something. He ran off and came back with one of Patton’s paci’s . “Here.”

He stuck it in Janus's mouth. That seemed to sooth him. His eyes were tired and were slowly closing. “No no no! You can’t sleep here!” Remus said.

He grabbed Janus and tugged him along to the couch. Once he was on the couch he put a blanket over him.

\---

Roman, Logan and Virgil all got back that evening. Dried pancake batter covered the kitchen.

“Roman!” Remus cried tackling his brother. “I took care of everyone!”

“Did you?” Roman said, forcing a smile on his face.

Logan walked over and found Janus and Patton sitting on the floor playing with building blocks. Patton lit up when he saw him.

“Lo!” Patton cried.

Janus winced and whimpered at the loud noise. Patton looked back at him and frowned, “oops. Sorry.” He held up a finger to his lips and loudly whispered to Logan, “He doesn’t like loud.”

Logan nodded and got down next to them. Patton hugged him. Janus eyed him wearily. One of Patton’s paci’s in his mouth.

“I see we have another baby.” Logan stated.

“Yeah! He’s tiny.” Patton said, “He doesn’t know how to talk.”

“I see.” Logan held open his arms, “Would you like a hug?”

Janus shook his head and looked around. He spotted Virgil and pointed.

Virgil blinked, “Me?”

Janus made grabby hands at him.

“Get over there before he starts crying.” Roman said giving Virgil a little push.

Virgil walked over and knelt down on the ground. Janus crawled into his lap.

“Aaaw!” Patton said pointing at them.

“Looks like you’ve been chosen.” Roman joked.

“I didn’t know Janus Regresses.” Logan said.

“I don’t think he did either. It might be new though.” Virgil said quietly. Watching Janus as he snuggled up to him and closed his eyes.

“From now on we’re keeping at least two babysitters on duty.” Virgil said looking up.

The other two quickly agreed.

Janus sighed happily in Virgil’s arms and finally got some much needed relaxation.


	15. So it had a name part one.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman regressed. Remus goes along with it.

Roman was trying to get along with Remus. Really! It’s just hard to find something that both of them could agree on. It was either to fluff or too disturbing. 

So they settled on making things together in the imagination. They would work together in designing, testing, playing. Sometimes there was talking, laughter. Other times it was just a peaceful silence as they both worked on something they both loved.

It was one of those quiet days. Where the only sounds were the scribbling of Roman’s pen as he drew things into existence and the soft clicking of some kind of beetle thing that Remus was working on.

Then the humming started. Remus paused in his work to listen. Roman was humming again. Soon he would leave all but fleeing from the field they were working in. Remus watched curious as to why he always ran away once he started humming.

He had never confronted his brother about it before. “It sounds nice.” He commented.

Roman looked up and smiled at him, “Thanks.” He paused, “You wanna sing with me?”

Remus hesitated. “Ok.”

“What you wanna sing?” Roman asked. Why was he talking like that? 

“You pick.” Remus said, hundred and ten percent sure that Roman would not approve of anything he would want to sing.

Roman settled on Shiny from Moana. Remus was sure to not mess up the lyrics (or replacement them with his own). He smiled. This was new. 

“That was fun!” Roman said. Then he paused and frowned. Remus froze. Had he messed up? “I gonna do something..”

“Do you need to leave?” Remus asked.

Roman smiled again. “Yeah! I gonna find V.” He turned to leave before looking back towards Remus. “You come too?”

“Ok.” Roman grabbed Remus’s hand shocking him into silence and pulled him along. Remus knew he acted like this before. Something he took to calling dumbass brain. He had no idea that that’s what was going on with Roman too.

Roman dragged him into the light side living room where they found Virgil and Logan sitting in silent. Virgil on his phone and Logan with a book.

“V!” Roman cried letting go of Remus’s hand and running over to him. Virgil looked up and smiled at Roman before that smile froze as his eyes shifted back towards Remus.

“Hey..”Virgil said. 

“Guess what?” Roman asked. 

“What?” Virgil asked, keeping an eye on Remus who shifted awkwardly.

“Re sang with me! And he wasn’t mean at all!” Ouch! Remus winced at that. He had really been trying to be nicer.

“That’s great.” Virgil said.

“Ah, Remus. A word in the kitchen?” Logan asked standing.

Crap! What did he do? Remus wordlessly followed Logan into the Kitchen. “I imagine you have questions.” 

“Nope.” Remus said.

Logan paused. “Really? I wasn’t aware that you knew about his age regression.”

Remus’s mouth worked faster than his brain. “What’s that?”

“I thought you didn’t have any questions.” Logan said, adjusting his glasses. 

“I didn’t...I mean..” Remus sputtered. “He’s not just being dumb?”

“No. He’s mentally regressed to a younger state of mind.” Logan said flatly.

Remus thought about this. He didn’t know anything about this. At least not in the innocent cute way that Roman displayed it. And he wouldn’t be into...Remus shook his head, “So not sexy?”

“What? No!” Logan said, taken back by the question. “Why would you... ? He’s literally mentally a child.” 

“Mmmm. Sounds-” Like me. “Lame. I’m out.” Remus said sinking out.

He dropped from the ceiling onto his bed. He stared up not really seeing. 

So it had a name.


	16. So it had a name bad ending.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A follow up of So it had a name.

Remus stayed in his room for the next week and refused to come out when Janus and Roman knocked. He couldn’t face them.

He didn’t want them to think that he was just copying Roman. HAH! Like he’d ever do that! 

No one knew up till now, no one needed to know. 

He would keep it a secret.

He didn’t count on that being a lot harder than he thought.

The first time he almost went dumbass- um..Regressed... Was when Patton had given him a cookie as a reward for not breaking any more dishes or making the walls bleed. 

The cookie was plenty on its own but he also got a head pat. 

He dropped so fast that he blinked in surprise and giggled. Patton stared at him. He had to cover for this. “Butts!” Was the only gross thing he could think of.

Patton rolled his eyes, “Alright then.” 

Remus relaxed and nibbled at the treat. 

It was safe.

Next was when Roman had Regressed and wanted him to play with him. Which he agreed despite Virgil staring at him the whole time.

They played knights and Princes. Or in this case, Dukes and Princes. 

“Ha! I win!” Roman said.

He dropped, “No fair!” He pouted.

Turned away from Roman and met Virgil’s quizacail gaze. 

Wordlessly he sank out.

The closest he ever came to anyone figuring it out was with Janus. This had never been a problem before as Remus had never had a secret before.

It was movie night. The movie had yet to start and the duke was waiting quietly. 

Janus was immediately concerned. “Dumb brain?” He asked using Remus’s words for it. Not having made the connection yet himself.

Remus paused for longer than normal then lied, “Yep.” 

Janus froze. Did Remus just...lie? Remus never lies!

“Remus.. What’s wrong?” Janus asked. Maybe he was just confused.

“Just dumb brain.” 

Janus’s eyes narrowed. Remus always called it dumbass brain. “Mmm.” 

He kept at eye on him throughout the horror movie. He expected laughing, random grotesque facts. He got none of that.

Instead Remus was wincing….Wincing! At the fake gore that even Patton could handle! Something was very very wrong. 

Halfway through it Remus wordlessly sank out. 

“Hey where did Remus go?” Roman asked.

“It was probably too boring for him.” Virgil said, shrugging. 

Janus decided to leave him be. He would come to them when he was ready. 

Remus was crying. He felt bad, he just wanted cuddles and head pats. 

But he couldn’t let anyone know. He wasn’t supposed to be gross! Why couldn’t he just do his job and be terrible?


	17. So it had a name good ending.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is the same as the bad ending except for the end. lol.

Remus stayed in his room for the next week and refused to come out when Janus and Roman knocked. He couldn’t face them.

He didn’t want them to think that he was just copying Roman. HAH! Like he’d ever do that! 

No one knew up till now, no one needed to know. 

He would keep it a secret.

He didn’t count on that being a lot harder than he thought.

The first time he almost went dumbass- um..Regressed... Was when Patton had given him a cookie as a reward for not breaking any more dishes or making the walls bleed. 

The cookie was plenty on its own but he also got a head pat. 

He dropped so fast that he blinked in surprise and giggled. Patton stared at him. He had to cover for this. “Butts!” Was the only gross thing he could think of.

Patton rolled his eyes, “Alright then.” 

Remus relaxed and nibbled at the treat. 

It was safe.

Next was when Roman had Regressed and wanted him to play with him. Which he agreed despite Virgil staring at him the whole time.

They played knights and Princes. Or in this case, Dukes and Princes. 

“Ha! I win!” Roman said.

He dropped, “No fair!” He pouted.

Turned away from Roman and met Virgil’s quizacail gaze. 

Wordlessly he sank out.

It was movie night. The movie had yet to start and the duke was waiting quietly. 

Janus was immediately concerned. “Dumb brain?” He asked using Remus’s words for it. Not having made the connection yet himself.

Remus paused for longer than normal then lied, “Yep.” 

Janus froze. Did Remus just...lie? Remus never lies!

“Remus.. What’s wrong?” Janus asked. Maybe he was just confused.

“Just dumb brain.” 

Janus’s eyes narrowed. Remus always called it dumbass brain. “Remus are you lying to me?” Janus asked just loud enough that everyone else could hear.

Remus froze.

“Wha-what?” Roman said.

“Remus doesn’t lie.” Patton of all people said.

“I didn’t think he was capable of that.” Logan said his gaze falling on Remus. 

Remus shifted in his seat uncomfortably. It didn’t help that he was half way regressed as it was and all the attention was pushing him further into it. 

“I...Yes.” Remus answered after a second of tense silence where Janus had not taken his eyes off Remus.

“So what’s wrong?” Janus asked.

Remus didn’t answer. Janus sighed and sat down next to him. “Look you can tell us. No one” He put stress on the words, “Is going to judge you.”

“I..Don’t think dumb brain is just dumb brain.” He whispered.

Janus nodded. Virgil looked confused, “What’s dumb brain?”

“It’s where Remus can’t think as well and his intrusive thoughts are tamer.” Janus explained.

“What do you think it is then?” Janus asked. Remus’s eyes flickered to Roman’s.

Roman’s eyes widened. “You think….You too?”

“What?” Patton asked.

“You age regress!” Roman shouted. 

Remus nodded miserably. “Sorry.” 

Roman frowned. “Why are you apologizing?”

“I..you already do that and I didn’t want to...copy you.” Remus shifted around looking at the ground. 

“That’s the dumbest Idea you’ve ever had.” Roman snorted.

Remus smiled, “Really?”

“Really?” Remus asked quietly, small.

Roman nodded. 

“I guess we should change what we’re going to watch.” Logan said.

“What do you want to watch Remus?” Patton asked.

Remus looked up and frowned, “I dunno.” He shrugged.

“That’s fine. I’ll pick.” Roman said.

“Hey!” Virgil protested. 

“You picked last time.” Roman said.

Virgil paused, “Fair enough.” 

“Disney it is!” Roman said.

Janus put an arm around Remus’s shoulders and the duke snuggling against him. It was fine. Everything was fine. 

Remus smiled.


	18. Baaaby snake do do do doo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan watches Patton and Janus. He messes up a little bit.

(Honestly, why do I hurt Janus so much?!? ;-;)

Logan was watching Patton and Janus, both of whom were regressed at the moment. Virgil and Remus, both of Janus’s normal caregivers, were busy so Logan volunteered to watch the baby snake.

That was his first mistake. He didn’t know how to take care of Janus, he just assumed it wasn’t that different than watching Patton who was a fair bit older than Janus and preferred playing to cuddling. At least most of the time.

So he sat listening to Patton as he rambled on and on about the adventures he wanted to go on with his stuffies and what they all liked to eat. Logan nodded and was busy memorizing all of this as Patton told him. Janus sat nearby sucking on a pacifier and hugging a stuffed snake that was almost as tall as he was. (A gift from Remus.)

He was staring wistfully at Logan and Patton. He wanted to be held and have a story read to him. The only problem was that he had gone non verbal and all his small waves were doing nothing to get Logan’s attention. He couldn’t crawl over as Patton’s toys blocked the way.

He picked up a small beanie cat and threw it at Logan. 

“Don’t throw things Janus!” Logan scolded him. 

Janus huffed and slammed his fist against the ground. Logan sighed, “If you want something use your words.” 

That was his second mistake, forgetting that Janus would go non verbal. Patton never stopped talking so it didn’t cross his mind that Janus might not be able to talk.

Janus got angry. He couldn’t use his words! If Virgil or Remus were here they would understand! 

He slammed his fists against the ground and then threw another stuffie, this one hit Patton. 

“That’s it. You’re in timeout!” Logan snapped. 

Janus teared up as he crawled over to the corner where Logan was pointing to. He hugged his snake and sobbed. 

“Mean.” Patton said looking at Logan. Logan was taken back by this.

“What?” Logan asked. Patton had never called him mean before. 

“He’s sad now! You hurt him!” Patton said.

“Patton it’s not ok to throw things.” Logan said firmly.

“He’s baby.” Patton said.

Logan paused. Janus was a baby. Did Virgil mention something about him not talking? Logan groaned as he realized his mistake. 

He moved over to Janus who looked up at him fearfully. Logan winced, that hurt. “Hey I’m sorry.” He said softly. “I shouldn’t have put you in time out. You were just trying to talk to me in your own way.”

Janus nodded. 

“Hug?” Logan opened his arms. 

Janus hesitated before crawling into Logan’s lap. He curled up and hummed happily. 

“Better.” Patton said. 

Logan looked up at Patton and wondered where all this sass came from. He would worry about that later.

Patton moved closer to them and went back to talking. Janus watched from Logan’s arms sucking on his paci, his eyes wide as Patton told them about a dream he had. 

Logan smiled at them. 

After an hour or so Remus came back. 

“Heyo!” 

Janus woke up and beamed. He reached out and Remus picked him up.(Which was good as Logan’s legs had fallen asleep.)

“Were you good for Logan?” Remus asked Janus.

“He wasn’t the problem.” Logan said awkwardly getting to his feet.

Remus looked at him with a raised eyebrow as Janus settled his head on Remus’s shoulder.

“I...may have forgotten that he goes none verbal and over reacted when he threw a few things.” Logan said.

“Yeah, we let him throw soft things to get our attention if we aren’t paying attention.” Remus said picking up the forgotten snake and handing it to the Little. 

“Yes. I put him in timeout for a bit before I realized what was going on.” Logan admitted. 

Remus eyed Logan for a solid minute before speaking. “Well he seemed fine when I came in and you seem justifiably upset so I’ll let it slide this time. But next time you’re getting a morning star to the head.” He warned.

“I expect nothing less.” Logan agreed.

Remus nodded, “Good.” He turned back to Janus, “Ready to go see V?”

Janus nodded and Remus nodded to Logan again before walking off.

“You did a good job!” Patton said standing and patting Logan’s head like he would do for Patton. 

“Did I?” Logan asked.

Patton nodded. “Yeah! You said sorry! That’s good!” 

Logan smiled, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome!” Patton giggled before going back to playing. 

The next time Logan watched Janus he was more careful to pay attention to him before it got to the point of throwing things. He really didn’t want Patton to pick that habit up, even if Janus’s caregivers encouraged it.


	19. double secret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman and Logan have been hiding their regression for awhile. Now they've caught each other out.

Logan and Roman both regressed. No one else knew. They didn’t know that the other regressed either. Logan didn’t want anyone to mock him for his coping method and Roman didn’t even know what it was called. They both kept their secrets for months until both of them ran into each other wearing onesies in the middle of the night going to get a midnight snack.

Logan hid a pacifier behind his back and Roman vanished a beauty and the beast sippy cup. “You’re...still up.” Logan said.

“You too..” Roman said awkwardly. “Umm..I’ll just..grab this.” He said reaching into the fridge for the apple juice. 

“Yeah. ok….err.. Sleep well...Roman.” Logan said. Roman nodded stiffly and left. 

Logan relaxed a little and grabbed a cup of goldfish before returning to his room. He paused as he thought he had seen Roman with a...He shook his head. It was late and he was seeing things. He just hoped that Roman wouldn’t mention that Logan had been wearing a onesies after calling them childish.

\---

Roman sipped at his juice. Logan hadn’t seen the bottle...right? Roman hummed thoughtfully. He was wearing his unicorn onesies. Maybe he only liked it to sleep in. Which was fine! He just hoped that he was quick enough that Logan didn’t see the bottle. 

He looked down at it. He shouldn’t want to drink out of something like this! But sometimes he just felt..younger and he’d spill his drink all over the place. So he needed this! He reasoned. It was just to make sure he didn’t spill it everywhere when he was so...tired? Dumb? 

He shook his head as he chewed on the rubber tip a little. He was prince Roman he wasn’t dumb!

But the others thought that he was….Logan thought he was...Virgil thought he was...Patton probably did too….

So maybe he was dumb. He sniffed. Tears poured down his face. Angry he scrubbed at them. He wasn’t dumb! He would show them he was smart!

Cuz he was...right?

\---

The next morning Logan and Roman avoided each other’s gazes at Breakfast. Virgil sat glancing between them. Patton was busy chatting about what he was going to do today.

“Ok what is going on with you two?” Virgil asked after they both reached for the butter before jerking away from each other.

Roman glanced at Logan and met his gaze for a second before lying, “Just a..disagreement about scheduling.” He said putting enough grump in his voice that Virgil wouldn’t know.

“Yes.” Logan said irritated caughting on to what Roman was doing. “Roman is being as stubborn as ever. Not putting enough thought into the time it takes to make some stupid ideas work.” 

“Say you! You don’t have a creative bone in your body!” Roman said, offended. They really thought that he was stupid?

“Of course not! I’m a metaphysical human bei-”

“Oh save it Indexter!” Roman snapped, putting a bit of real anger in his voice. 

Logan blinked, “Now you are just lashing out.”

Roman stood, “I’ll be in my room.” 

He walked off stiffly. Logan looked back towards Patton and Virgil both of whom were staring at him. Virgil looked awkward, “Sorry..I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No. It’s fine. It wasn’t your fault.” Logan said. He looked down at his half eaten food. “I’ll be going as well.”

He walked over and paused in front of Roman’s door. He almost knocked when he heard crying. He listened and could hear Roman muttering as he cried but couldn’t make out the words. 

He felt guilty. He would apologize later and thank Roman for covering for him.

\---

Roman sat on his bed, his knees pulled up to his chest. “Stupid.” He muttered as he cried. He was just an idiot like they said. His heart felt like it was breaking as he summoned a large teddy bear and hugged it.

He didn’t know that he was regressed. All he knew was that he felt awful and guilty for insulting Logan and he messed up! Again!

“Stupid!” He muttered again as he hid his face in the bear’s fur and cried.

“What is this?” 

He looked up startled to see Janus standing at the end of his bed. “Why are you here?” He asked, rubbing at his eyes. 

Janus frowned, looking Roman over. “It seems you’ve been lying to yourself. You should stop that.”

“I-I not lying.” Roman whined.

Janus froze. He knew that tone of voice. He had heard it from Remus plenty of times. He moved closer to Roman who shys away. Janus paused before pressing on. He ran a hand through Roman’s hair. “There there. I’m sure you didn’t mean to.”

Roman sobbed again. “Shhh.” Janus said as Roman hugged him. “It’s ok little prince.”

“I...I’m not…” 

“What? Little?” Janus asked. Had he misread the situation?

“What you mean little?” He asked small. 

Janus paused. Did he really not know what was going on? 

He was about to explain when there was a knock at the door.

\---

Patton decided to check on Roman first. “Roman? You alright?” 

He got no response. He opened the door to find the room empty. Huh. Didn’t he say he was going to his room? Maybe he had something else to do first. Or maybe he had gone to talk to Logan. 

He got to Logan’s room and knocked.

“Come it.” Logan’s voice was tense.

Patton opened the door and found Logan standing in the middle of his room. “Hey, have you seen Roman? He’s not in his room and I thought that maybe he was-”

“No. I haven’t seen him.” Logan said cutting him off. “Perhaps you should check with Virgil?”

Patton shook his head, “No Virgil’s still downstairs.”

“Well maybe Roman slipped past you.” Logan said tightly.

Patton frowned, “Hey? Are you doing ok-”

“Perfectly fine. Just busy.” He lied through his teeth.

He could swear he heard a sigh from behind him but when he glanced back no one was there.

“Ok...I’ll get out your hair.” Patton said closing the door.

“You two really need to just talk to each other.” Janus said behind him.

Logan spun around and found Janus and...a large teddy bear? He saw Roman’s face peek out from behind the bear for a second before vanishing behind it again.

“What is this?” Logan asked.

“Well I needed to avoid Patton and also explain to Roman something. I figured as Logic you could explain it better than I could.”

Logan hesitated. He really didn’t feel like doing this right now. He was on the edge of regressing due to his guilt at upsetting Roman and didn’t want to…

“Logan I can almost hear you think.” Janus said. “I just want you to explain to Roman that he isn’t stupid.”

Logan frowned, “What? Of course Roman isn’t stupid!” 

“Weally?” Roman asked peeking out from behind the bear. He looked so vulnerable...and what was with his voice?

“Really. You were right about me not being that creative. That is your job. Something you do better than anyone else could.” Logan said.

Roman nodded. Janus looked between them. “Fantastic now on to the second thing we have to discuss.” 

“I really am Busy-”

“What is age regression?” Janus’s eyes were pricing. 

“...Why do you need to know about that?” Logan asked.

“Oh it’s not for me! I understand it just fine! It’s Roman that needs it explained.” Janus said looking back at the prince.

He knows. Logan froze as he looked at Roman. Did he piece it together last night? Or was it after their ‘conversion’? 

“As much as I would love to help..” Logan looked at Janus again. “I’m afraid I’m not very knowledgeable about this subject.” 

Janus narrowed his eyes at the lies. But didn’t press it. “Alright. We’ll get out of your way then.” And they vanished.

Logan let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

Maybe Roman really didn’t figure it out. But if he hadn't, why had he needed to know about…

Logan shook his head and decided to get some work done while he still could. The events of last night and this morning are replaying through his head.

It was an hour before he jumped up from his desk having figured it out. “He’s the one regressing!” 

He was so worried about his own secret that he didn’t think that Roman had one of his own. Foolish!

He was going to have to talk to Roman about this.

\---

Janus didn’t know why Logan was lying. Just that he was. He decided to deal with that later and focus on Roman at the moment. He took him to see Remus. 

“Double D!” Remus cried. “And a bear?”

“Remus there’s a little problem.” Janus said trying to subtly hint Remus into the problem. 

He didn’t get it. “I’ll say! Bears aren’t your animal!”

Roman peeked out from the teddy bear. “Oh! It’s Roman’s! That explains it!”

“Remus…” Remus paused in pulling out a throwing knife. Roman had seen it and...whimpered.

“What’s up with him?”

“He’s feeling a little.” Janus said bluntly as subtle wasn’t working.

Remus lowered the knife. “Oh….why’s he here though?”

“Because he doesn’t know what’s happening and we’re going to explain it.” Janus said leading Roman to the couch. 

Remus shrugged. 

It took over two hours for Roman to fully understand in his regressed state what was going on. 

“Can I go back now?” He asked.

“I’ll take you back.” Janus promised standing.

“You should come down when I’m little as well. We’ll have lots of fun.” The way Remus said that made Roman shy away from him. 

“He’s calmer when he’s little.” Janus said as they left. 

“Roman!” Patton cried jumping up from where he was waiting by the door. “What’s with the bear?”

Uuuuuuuum..”Here.” Roman said, giving it to him.

“For me? Thank you! What’s the occasion?” Patton asked.

“Just because.” Roman said looking at the ground. 

Janus cleared his throat. “Patton could I speak to you outside?”

“Sure?” Patton glanced back as he closed the door and found that Roman was sitting on his bed staring as they left.

“What’s up?”

“Do you know what’s going on with Logan?” Janus asked. Patton was taken back by the question.

“Well.. He and Roman did have a fight earlier.” Patton said, setting the bear down. He had no idea what he was going to do with it. 

“About?” Janus asked.

“Scheduling.” Patton said, “At least I think so?” 

Janus looked off towards Logan’s room before turning back to Patton. “Think you could keep an eye on…” He couldn’t ask that. Roman had kept this a secret for a reason. “Never mind.”

“Ok.” Patton said confused.

Janus looked down at the bear, “You should do something with that.” 

“Hah ha yeah.” 

Patton picked up the bear and walked off. Janus turned just as Logan’s door opened. 

“Ah. Janus is..Roman in his room?” He asked as he walked over.

“Yes.” 

“Good I need to speak with him.” 

“Maybe wait a bit.” Janus said.

“Why?” Logan frowned.

“He’s not...feeling-”

“Very big?” Logan asked. Janus wanted to curse. Of course Logan figured it out. Oh well, he had planned on telling him earlier anyway.

They entered Roman’s room and he looked up. He saw Logan and frowned.

“I’m sorry.” They both said at the same time. Then stared at each other.

“I shouldn’t have called your ideas stupid.” Logan said.

“I didn’t mean to be mean.” Roman said.

Logan nodded, “I guess you regress too?” He said.

Janus’s head snapped towards Logan. Logan ignored it, focusing only on the way Roman stared at him. “You too?”

Logan nodded. 

“So..It’s not weird?” Roman asked nervously.

“No. It’s a perfectly healthy way to cope with stress.” Logan said. Roman beamed.

\---

A week later they were both dressed in their onesies watching a movie in a pillow fort. Remus watched from upside down on the couch. Virgil curled in the corner away from the Duke. Patton sat on the floor with Roman and Logan. Janus sat reading a book, no interest in the cartoon movie that played.

Virgil and Patton didn’t take much explaining before they got it. Patton even offered to take care of them while in that state of mind. Something Logan declined while Roman happily accepted. They didn’t hide in their rooms when it happened anymore.

Virgil tended to hover, quick to stop them from doing anything that could be considered dangerous. Patton had to more than once pull him back so they had room to breath. He may have not been a caregiver but he was a very protective older brother. 

“I’m happy.” Roman stated out of the blue. 

Logan nodded. Patton giggled. “Good.” 

They looked at each other. Neither of them regretted coming down in the middle of the night anymore. In fact they were glad they did. They weren’t alone anymore because of it.

And wasn’t that just the best thing?


	20. Remy's regress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remy regresses for the first time. It totally goes great!

He woke up feeling..off. He brushed it off as lack of good sleep and needing a coffee. He started the coffee maker. Soon enough he had a cup of plain black coffee. He took a sip and wrinkled his nose at the taste.

Huh.. that’s weird. 

He ended up putting a bit of caramel flavoring in it. That helped...somewhat.

“Morning!” Emile said as he walked in.

Remy answered with a hum. Emile chuckled as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “Bad night?”

“I guess?” Remy said, frowning at his mostly empty cup. 

“Something wrong?” Emile asked, sitting down next to his boyfriend. 

Remy shrugged, “I’m fine babes...just still tired.” That was it...wasn’t it?

Emile looked at him closely, “Okie dokie!”

Remy smiled and drained the rest of his coffee. He didn’t get more. Something that Emile noticed immediately. He didn’t mention it.

“So what are we up today?” Remy asked.

“Napping if you're still tried.” Emile said.

Remy rolled his eyes. “I’ll be fine. You don’t need to worry about that.” 

Emile frowned, “Ok. How about we just stay here today?” 

“Sounds lame.” Remy said.

“Remy.” Emile said.

“Fine.” 

They ended up watching cartoons..both of them. Normally half way through the first episode Remy would have pulled out his phone. 

“Is your phone dead?” Emile asked.

Remy pulled his gaze from the t.v, “Huh? Oh! No...Why?”

“No reason.” Emile said Remy was already watching the t.v screen again.

It was two hours before Remy got bored and stood up. 

“Go to get coffee?” Emile asked. He watched as Remy wrinkled his nose at the thought. 

“..Yes.” That’s what he would normally do.

“You don’t have to.” Emile said, his voice switching into Therapy mode. 

“I know.” Remy said. No eye roll. No comment. Just...I know. “I think I’ll take a nap.”

Remy walked off and ended up in their bed room. In the corner was Emile’s stuffed animals. Most of whom were from cartoons. Some were just cute.

Remy really really wanted to snuggle one. He shook his head. What was with him today?

He crawled into bed and opened his phone, ready to scroll through instagram until he passed out.

He squinted at the screen. He blinked and rubbed his eyes. He couldn’t read anything. Everything was small and jumbled up. He turned off his phone and set it on the night stand and then stared at the ceiling.

What was wrong with him today? Maybe he should ask Emile. He would know something about this...right?

He glanced back at the pile of toys. 

Screw it. He got out of bed and grabbed a simba plush. He crawled back into bed holding a stuffed animal to his chest. He dozed off quickly.

He woke up sometime later and felt even weird. Why was it so hard to think? He was getting scared. What if he was sick? Really really sick?

Tears sprung to his eyes. He hugged Simba tighter. 

He was so scared and confused and he wanted Em.

“What’s wrong?” Emile asked as he walked into to find a sobbing Remy holding a stuffed animal.

Remy was quick to bury his face in Emile’s chest and whimpered. “Scared.”

“Why are you scared?” Emile asked softly.

“My brain’s weird and I can’t read and I don’t like it!” Remy described.

It clicked for Emile. He’s seen this before. He was a therapist he’s even suggested for patients to age regress. Get in touch with a childhood that they had lost.

“I think you’re regressed.” Emile said, stroking Remy’s hair.

“What?”

“It’s where you feel younger...do you feel younger?” Emile asked.

“A little.” Rmey said quietly. He paused, “I’m hungry.”

“Well then. Let’s get you something to eat!” Emile said.

Remy clung to Emile all the way to the kitchen and whined when Emile let go of his hand to get some food. 

Emile talked to Remy the whole time he made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and cut it into squares. He set that down for him and then gave him a glass of milk.

He turned around to make himself a sandwich when-

“Oops! Oh no!” He turned and found that Remy had knocked over his glass. He looked scared.

“Hey. It’s ok!” Emile said, grabbing a towel. 

This was only the first of many accidents that Remy had while small. Each one made him more upset than the last. By evening he was hiding in the back of his closet, his knees pulled up to his chest and his head hidden behind his arms.

It took Emile fifteen minutes to find him there from when he ran off after accidentally dropping a glass and it shattering across the floor.

“Hey. There you are!” Emile said turning on the closet light.

Remy whimpered. 

“Hey no! It’s ok!” Emile said.

“No! I..I didn’t mean too!” Remy said breathing fast.

“You aren’t in trouble.” Emile said.

Remy looked at him scared. It hurt Emile that Remy was afraid of him. “Of course not! It was an accident!” 

“I’m an accident.” Remy muttered.

Emile frowned, “No. You’re not.”

“Yes I am! I break everything ! And- and I’m always scared! Now I’m all brain weird!” Remy shouted. 

“Oh sweetie.” Emile said, opening his arms. Remy threw himself into them and sobbed. “I had no idea you were so scared.”

“I’m stupid.” 

“You aren’t stupid.” Emile said firmly. He was going to have a long chat with Remy after he wasn’t regressed about all of this. For now, he needed to calm him down. “How about some ice cream?”

“Really?” Remy asked hesitantly.

“Really. Come on!” Emile said, pulling Remy along to the kitchen. 

He gave him a dish of ice cream and watched as he slowly started smiling. “Better?”

Remy nodded. “Thanks Em.”

Emile smiled. 

\---

Remy woke up with a mild headache from not having his coffee yet. He felt… normal if not a little embarrassed about how he acted.

He looked over and found that Emile was already awake. 

He got to the kitchen and found Emile had made a pot of coffee and was reading. “Ah! You’re up!”

Remy didn’t respond right away. Emile frowned, “Aaaw are you still feeling little-”

“No!” Remy said sharply before taking a breath. “No I’m just..” He poured himself a cup of coffee. He didn’t want to turn around.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed.” Emile said softly.

“Right. Because me acting like a kid is totes normal.” Remy said drily, turning to face his boyfriend.

“It’s perfectly healthy to age regress.” Emile said, staring him down.

Remy broke eye contact first. 

“We need to talk.” Emile said. 

Remy nodded and sat down across from him tensely. This was the part where they go back to being friends right? Remy was just too screwed up to be bothered with.

“So you regress pretty young.” Emile started. 

Remy shrugged and took a drink. He had no idea if that was normal or not for age regression. 

“Do you want me to be your caregiver?” 

Remy almost spit out his coffee. “My what?” 

“I watch you when you're regressed.” Emile clarified.

“...that’s going to happen again?” Remy asked quietly.

“Probably. Maybe not. It could have been a one time thing.” Emile said, trying to comfort him.

Remy stared down into his coffee. “I...I don’t know.”

Emile put a hand over Remy’s. “We have time. You don’t have to answer right away.”

Remy nodded. He had a lot he needed to think about.


	21. Flying twins

Maybe letting them watch Mary poppins was a mistake. Patton thought as he watched Roman float along the ceiling. Remus pouting from the floor, “I wanna fly too!” 

Roman paused hidden in the corner, looked down at his brother. “Just do what I did!” 

“I don’t know how!”

Patton was silently grateful for that, at least until Remus started crying. He sat down heavily, and wailed. Patton winced. 

“Of course that wouldn’t work!” Patton said before he could really think it through. “You’re clearly peter pan!” What was he doing? 

“Peter pan?” Remus asked weakly.

“Yep! And do you remember how Peter pan flies?” Patton asked.

“Pixie dust!” Remus yelled. Then he paused. “But I don’t have any.”

Patton hesitated, “Give me a second.” He ran to the kitchen and got a pinch of salt. He ran back and sprinkled it over Remus. 

The effect was immediate. Remus took off flying. Patton smiled as Remus giggled.

Then that smile froze and looked up, realizing that he just made the problem twice as bad. 

He sat down and put his head in his hands. The twins chasing each other around in the air. Logan came in shortly after.

“What?” 

“Oh! Logan! Good can you help me get them down?” Patton asked.

“Nooo!” they both cried out in mid air. 

“You can’t just stay up there.” Logan said gently. “You’ll need to come down sometime!” 

Remus and Roman looked at each before bolting off in two different directions. 

“Wait!” Patton yelled. Logan ducked as Remus flew over him. 

“I’ll get him.” Logan said following the Duke. 

Patton went to the kitchen where Roman had disappeared. He was hovering up in the corner. 

“Roman. Playtime is over. It’s time to come down.” Patton said.

“No!” 

“Roman! I’ll give you till the count of three.” Patton said.

Roman crossed his arms. 

“One.”

Roman’s resolve weavered. 

“Two!”

He dropped towards the floor so fast Patton was sure he was going to hurt something. A couple inches before he landed he stopped and then dropped the rest of the way. He huffed. “No fun.”

“I knew you were having fun. Maybe you can fly around again later.” Patton said. Once they child proofed the ceiling lights….somehow. He really didn’t want Remus eating any light bulbs again.

A couple minutes later Logan came back with Remus who was bouncing with excitement.

“He said I could have ice cream!” He said pointing at Logan. Patton looked at him. 

Logan cleared his throat, “I got him down didn’t i?”

Roman whined, “I want ice cream!”

Patton sighed. It was only ten in the morning. He looked at the twins as they gave him puppy dog eyes. 

“Fine!” He said, throwing his hands in the air. 

They both cheered. At least they weren’t on the ceiling anymore.


	22. Remy's regress part two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> he's getting there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me- this is a ONE SHOT book!  
> also me- Mmmmulti chapters! Multi chapters everywhere!

Two weeks had passed since he had regressed and he stubbornly avoided talking about it again. He was not going to do that again! He shuddered at how scared and helpless he felt. 

“Regressing can be fun!” Emile promised.

Remy ignored him. There was no way that...that was going to be good for him! He had a fine childhood, he didn’t need to regress! He wasn’t stressed...much. Or depressed… most of the time.

He could handle it! He was fine!

At least, until he woke up with his head fuzzy again. Dread settled in his stomach at what that meant. He took a breath and was determined to do everything he could to not regress!

He glanced over at Emile who was still asleep. He was not going to tell his boyfriend either...Even if he had promised. He hadn’t meant it anyway….

Guilt started to gnaw at him. He got out of bed. He could handle this. 

He would handle this.

He drank his coffee black despite wanting to put an unholy amount of sugar in it. He got a second cup even though he didn’t want to. He got dressed in his normal clothing even if they were uncomfortable. He went to work and was fine!

He was fine!

Until he got sent home early for being snippy. He was always snippy, he grumbled as he got home. He looked around the empty apartment and sighed. Emile wouldn’t be back for a couple hours. 

He wanted him now though. He wanted to be held and told that everything was fine. He wanted to just..relax.

Well he could do that, couldn’t he? Yeah, if he got less stressed maybe the fuzzy feeling that plagued him would leave.

He first tried watching t.v but the Rom Com he put on wasn’t holding his interest. Next he tried scrolling through instagram. Again not interesting. He groaned in frustration. 

Tears pricked at his eyes. Angry he wiped them away. He would not lose to this! He was an adult! He could handle this!

Emile came home to find Remy sitting on the couch staring off into space, tears pouring down his face.

“What happened?” He asked. 

Remy looked at him, “I...I didn’t want to.” He said quietly.

Fear shot through Emile, “Didn’t want to what?” A million terrible situations running through his head.

Remy shook his head, “I’m an adult.” 

Emile paused for a second. It clicked. “Oh. Are you feeling a bit small again?”

“I don’t want it!” Remy said sobbing. 

“Would a hug make you feel better?” Emile asked.

Remy nodded and fell against Emile’s chest. Emile hugged him as he cried. “It’s ok. Shh.”

“I don’t wanna.” Remy cried.

“Why not?” Emile asked.

“Cuz it’s weird!” Remy said.

“So?” Emile asked. “People think I’m weird. Weird is ok!”

Remy thought about this. “I feel bad...scared.”

“Oh. Well I’m here now and I’ll protect you!” 

“Really?” Remy asked.

“Really. I'll keep you safe.” Emiile promised, “I’m not going anywhere.” 

Remy hugged Emile again, tighter this time. “Tank you.” 

“Of course.” 

Emile put on a movie and let Remy cuddle up to him. It took time for him to finally relax. 

“Em…” Remy started quietly.

“Yes?” 

“Love you.” Remy muttered. 

Emile almost squealed. “Love you too baby.” 

“Mkay.” Remy said leaning his head on Emile’s shoulder going back to watching the movie.

Remy still wasn’t comfortable with his regression but he did feel safer with Emile there. 

And that was a start right?


	23. Only a few more minutes part one.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan over works himself and fights off his regression.

It had been a long long long day for Logan. It was non stop work since he had woken up and he really just wanted to go to bed by now. Still he forced himself to stand up straight, keep calm, and work through this.

“Just a few more minutes.” He told himself quietly. Thomas was almost done editing.

“Did you say something?” Thomas asked, not looking up.

Logan replied tired, “No.”

Thomas looked up at that. “Are you alright? You’re looking a bit...never mind.” 

Logan didn’t realize that he had been glaring until Thomas looked at him nervously. 

He sighed and rubbed his face. “I’m fine. Please, let’s continue.”

Thomas nodded and got back to work. 

Logan closed his eyes, there was a stabbing pain in his forehead and it was getting worse the longer he had to focus. He didn’t notice that he had began chewing on his thumb nail until-

“Um…” Logan opened his eyes and found Virgil staring at him. He ripped his thumb away from his mouth. Virgil looked at him for a bit longer before shaking his head.

“I can’t believe I’m the one bring this up but..shouldn’t you be sleeping? It’s almost two a.m.” Virgil said.

Logan looked at the clock and blinked. How did it get so late? “That’s enough for today.” Logan said.

“I’d say.” Virgil said, rolling his eyes.

Logan ignores him, “We can finish this up tomorrow.” 

“But what if you can’t…”Virgil slapped a hand over his mouth, “Whoops. Sorry. I mean...You’ve got this.”

Thomas nodded and closed his laptop. Logan sunk out and dropped onto his bed face first. He was asleep seconds after he pulled his glasses off his face. They dropped from his hand to the floor.

\---

The next morning he woke up and immediately knew something was off. His head was fuzzy and thoughts were slow. 

“Wha?” He sat up and looked around. He was still in his day clothing from yesterday. He blinked and looked at the clock. He couldn’t make out the numbers. Not that he couldn’t see them, it's just their meaning wasn’t sinking in.

He was only briefly confused before he was being summoned. 

Thomas sat on the couch head in his hands. Patton, Roman, and Virgil were already there. 

“There you are!” Roman said, “Sleep in Mr schedule?” That hurt. Why did that hurt? He was never bothered by the childish insults Roman threw at him.

He looked at Logan and frowned. “Where did your glasses go?”

Logan blinked, He forgot that he didn’t have them on. He couldn’t remember where they were. “I...seem to have lost them.” He admitted.

“That’s..” Patton said.

“Whatever. We have something… or rather someone more important to focus on right now!” Virgil said gesturing to Thomas who looked up at that statement.

Logan winced at the implication that he didn’t matter. Of course he mattered! 

The fuzzy feeling got worse.

“I’m feeling…” Thomas said looking around then blinking. “What were we talking about?”

“He can’t focus.” Virgil said.

“So maybe he just needs a day off!” Roman suggested. “That room for that in your great plan?” He asked logan.

“Er…” Logan thought hard about it. Was there time? He couldn’t seem to remember anything about it. 

“If he needs time, then I say we give him time.” Janus said behind Logan. 

Logan froze as terror ran up his spine. Why was he so scared?

Janus took one look at Logan before waving his hand and his glasses appeared on his face.

“Ah..Thank you.” Logan muttered. Why was he nervous? Why did he feel so..so..

Small.

Dread filled his stomach. That’s what was wrong. He overworked himself and he had dropped. Not far. Not enough for it to be obvious, but if he wasn’t very very careful he was going to drop further. 

Then they would all know.

They can’t know!

“Logan?” Thomas said.

Logan looked over at him. “Are you doing alright?”

“Fine.” he lied.

Janus sighed. 

That wasn’t really a lie! He was fine! Just..scared.

“What’s wrong?” Virgil pressed, noticing Janus’s reaction to the word.

“Nothing you need to be concerned about.” Logan said, fear spiking. 

Virgil frowned at that. Could he sense it? How was Logan supposed to get out of here with his secret intact?  
“Whatever it is is affecting Thomas so cut it out!” Virgil snapped.

Logan whimpered dropping. 

“Virgil!” Patton scowled. “Logan are you...alright?” He was talking to empty air. Logan was gone.

\---  
He leaned against the door and cried. It wasn’t fair! He was trying so hard and he just couldn’t…

He couldn’t let them know. If Roman was this bad now he didn’t want to know how much worse it would be for he knew. Virgil would hate him for it, Patton would never take him seriously.

There was a knock. 

“Logan? Can we come in?” Patton asked.

We? Oh no!!

He pressed back harder against the door. “No.” He said.

There was a pause. “Look, we just want to help!” Roman said.

Yeah right.

“Please open the door.” Virgil said, “I’m..sorry that I yelled.”

Logan didn’t let them in. He couldn’t do it. He was chewing on his thumb nail again. 

“Hey.” He looked up to see Thomas. Only Thomas. 

That snapped him off of his regression. 

“How did you…?” 

Thomas shrugged, “Don’t know. Are you ok?” 

“Yes...No...Please leave.” Logan whispered.

Thomas didn’t, instead he sat down cross legged in front of Logan. “Not until we figure this out.”

“Why do you care?” Logan asked.

Thomas looked baffled at this. “Because I care about you!”

Logan thought about this. It felt good to hear that. He hesitated, “Can I...get a hug?”

Thomas was surprised but complied. He hugged Logan to his chest and Logan sighed. Something in him calmed. 

“I age regress.” Logan blurted out after he pulled back.

Thomas frowned, “Yes and?”

Logan blinked, “That’s it?”

“Hey it’s not hurting anyone and I think It’ll do you some good to relax sometimes.” Thomas said.

Logan sagged in relief before tensing again. “Can we..not tell the others?” He asked.

“Of course,” Janus disguised as Thomas promised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me-leaves a cliff hanger on a freaking one shot.  
> >:D


	24. Peaceful part four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus is bothered by his thoughts and runs into Roman who helps calm him down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This could be a continuation of the good ending or the bed ending. The choice is up to you!

Remus woke up regressed. Immediately thoughts popped into his head. The not nice kind of thoughts. He pulled his knees up to his chest and started crying. Not the loud dramatic kind of wailing he normally did. This was quiet, soft, vulnerable. 

He had been crying for a while his thoughts getting louder and more grotesque as time went on. He needed help! 

He crawled out of bed and stepped out of his room. He was going to find Janus but ended up running into Roman.

“Whoa what are you… Remus? Are you crying?” Roman asked.

Remus ran forward and hugged his brother. “Thoughts are bad!” He cried.

“You’re… thoughts?” Roman asked, confused as he hugged him back.

“hahuh..They’re bad..and scary!” Remus cried.

“Oh. It’s ok. I’m here now ok? They can’t hurt you.” Roman said.

Remus nodded but still clung to him. Roman took him to the kitchen. “Maybe a cookie will help?”

“..ok.” Remus said quietly.

Roman nodded and sat Remus down at the table. He got a couple cookies out, “Chocolate milk?”

“Yes please.” Remus said, looking a little better.

He set the glass and plate down in front of Remus.

“Thank you.” Remus said before nibbling on a cookie. 

Roman sat across from him watching. Remus looked at him and frowned before picking up the other cookie and holding it out.

“For me?” Roman asked.

“Yeah!” Remus said.

“Oh I don’t..”

“Please?” Remus asked.

Roman took the cookie and grudgingly admitted to himself that Remus was more polite in little space than he was. 

They ate their cookie and Roman stood as Remus finished his milk. “Now..Back to bed?” 

Remus paled and shook his head violently. “Ok! Ok! You don’t have to!” 

“T.v?” He asked quietly.

“Yeah we can watch t.v. What do you want to watch?” Roman asked.

Remus thought for a second. “Mickey mouse?” 

So Roman put on Mickey mouse cartoons as Remus curled up under a blanket on the couch. Remus made grabby hands for Roman who rolled his eyes but walked over anyway.

Remus laid his head in Roman’s lap and watched the screen. His eyes slowly falling shut in peaceful sleep.


	25. Only a few more minutes part two

Logan figured out that it had been Janus in the worst way possible. He mentioned it to Thomas when they were alone.

“You do that?” Thomas asked. After Logan clarified Age regression for him.

Cold fear settled in his stomach and he did the only thing he could think of. He left. 

He got to his room and locked the door. Shoved his desk in front of it for good measure. 

Then he panicked. He messed up! He messed everything up! How could he just...and now Thomas would hate him! He would tell the others and all of them would…

Except Janus… Did he know that this would happen? Had he planned on it?

He felt so stupid! 

\---

“I’m worried about Logan.” Patton said.

Thomas didn’t say anything. He could tell that this wasn’t his secret to tell...Well..it kind of was? It was a secret part of him kept from the other parts of him…

Hoboy was that complicated. 

“He’s fine.” Janus assured them. “He just needs time.” Thomas glanced at Janus and got the feeling that he had done something.

“How would you know?” Roman demanded.

“Janus is right.” Thomas said cutting them off from arguing about this.

Roman turned to Thomas, “So you know what’s going on with the nerd?”

“I know that he needs time.” Thomas said.

“Is that why you didn’t summon him?” Virgil asked.

“I didn’t summon any of you. You just showed up.” Thomas said.

Silence followed that statement. Before Patton spoke up, “I guess we just wait?”

Janus nodded, “That’s an awful idea.” He lied.

Virgil sighed.

“Alright. That settles it.” Thomas said, “We’ll just give him time.”

\---

It took a week before Thomas broke down and Summoned Logan alone. 

“...Thomas.” Logan looked like a wreck. 

“Hi...how are you doing?” Thomas asked.

Logan didn’t answer that. He just raised an eyebrow, “Is there something you need?”

“Yes...I think we need to talk.” Thomas said.

Logan winced. It was barely noticeable. Thomas missed it. “I don’t think that it’s weird...well..I do. But I don’t think that it’s bad! And if you want to do it then great!”

“I don’t want to do it. I seem to have no choice in the matter.” Logan said sharply.

“Oh.”

“My… regression is strictly non voluntary and well it does offer some benefits. I would much prefer to not be bothered with it.” Logan said stiffly.

“Oh logic. Don’t lie!” Janus said.

Logan froze. Damn it! Where was the lie?

“I don’t understand. I was speaking honestly.” 

“You think that you were speaking honestly.” Janus clarified. 

“Alright. Inlighten me.” Logan crossed his arms. He was pissed at Deceit for pretending to be Thomas.

“You enjoy your time regressed.” Janus smuggly.

“What would give you that idea?” Logan shot at him.

“You may not see it, but I do.” Janus said vaguely.

Logan turned away from Janus before he could do something that he would regret. “Is that all?” He asked Thomas.

“I’m here if you need me.” Thomas said.

Logan nodded once and sunk out. Janus followed him.

“Logan-”

Logan spun around, “Save it!”

“I never meant to upset you.” Janus said.

“Falsehood.” 

“It’s the truth.”

“Logan?” He turned to find Patton. 

“I..” He was cut off by a hug.

“I was so worried!” Patton said.

Logan awkwardly patted Patton’s back. “I’m fine.”

“Then why have you been hiding?” Patton asked.

“I’ve been working.” Which was true.

Janus sighed. Logan turned to him again. “Would you stop!” 

Janus looked at him offended, “And not do my job?” 

Logan wanted to punch him. He also wanted to hide under his bed and just let everything go away!

Oh no.

Logan tried to move past Patton to his room but he blocked him. “Oh no! You aren’t running off until we have a talk mister!”

“Patton this is ridiculous!” 

“No what’s ridiculous is you hiding!” Roman said.

“Just..let us help you.” Virgil said.

“I’m fine on my own! I don’t need help!” Logan snapped.

Virgil scowled, Roman crossed his arms, Patton looked at him disappointed. Janus just waited.

“Do you have any idea how you look right now?” Roman finally said. “You look like you lost a fight and haven’t slept in a week!”

Close, it was only the last four days. 

“I appreciate the concern but-”

“Logan you can’t keep running from this.” Janus said, “If you don’t tell them I will.”

Logan stared at him hurt, “Fine! See if I care!” He shoved past Patton and slammed his door shut before locking it.

Roman paused, “So what is wrong with him?” 

\---

Logan didn’t hide under his bed, even if he wanted to. He also didn’t drop due to stress, even though he wanted to do that too. If just to make him feel better. No, instead he sat at his desk staring blankly ahead. Lost in thoughts.

Janus was going to tell them. They were going to know.

He dropped.

He sobbed and hugged himself. God did he want a hug!

So in his little state he went to the only person that he could think of. 

Thomas. 

“Oh! Logan what-” He was cut off by being hugged. Once the shock wore off he hugged him back.

“What happened?” He had never seen Logan cry before. 

“I’m...small.” Logan admitted. “And Janus was mean!” 

“Oh.” Thomas didn’t laugh though he wanted to. “It’s ok.”

“No! Now they know! And they’ll hate me!” Logan said, pulling back.

“No one is going to hate you.” Thomas promised.

Logan didn’t look convinced. 

“Is there anything that would make you feel better?” He asked.

Logan paused, “T.v?” He asked in a quiet voice.

Thomas nodded, “Alright. We can watch t.v. What do you want to watch?” 

“I don’t care.” Logan said, shrugging. 

They sat on the couch watching a space documentary. Logan leaning on Thomas. 

It wasn’t long before Logan fell asleep. Thomas rubbed his face with the hand that wasn’t holding Logan. 

“Thomas?” He looked up and found everyone else there. 

“This isn’t the best time.” Thomas whispered.

“We just..tell him that it’s ok for us?” Patton asked.

“We don’t think any less of him.” Virgil said.

“We’re here for him.” Roman said. 

They sunk out. Janus stayed behind. 

“You told them.” Thomas said.

Janus nodded, “It had to happen.”

“You upset him.” 

“For the best.” He said before sinking out.

Thomas looked back down at Logan who had gone still just after they showed up.

“I guess you heard all that?” He asked.

“They don’t hate me.” Logan marveled.

“No one hates you.” Thomas promised. “Maybe you should talk to them.”

“Tomorrow.” Logan said. He wanted to stay there for just a few more minutes.


	26. Help!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton watches Remy and Emile.

This wasn’t good. Remy knew that, even in his younger state of mind, he knew that it was bad that both he and Emile were regressed at the same time. He didn’t know what to do. This had never happened before.

Emile was sitting on the floor surrounded with stuffies. Remy was watching him, he regressed older so he was in charge. That’s how it works! He decided.

He tried to get out of little space so that he could be big and watch Emile. But it wasn’t working! And that was making him upset.

He wanted to cry but he couldn’t. That would make Emile sad. He didn’t want to make him sad!

“What do I do?” he asked Emile not expecting an answer. He got one anyway.

“Pat.” 

“Pat?” 

“Paton.” Emile blabbled.

“You want Patton?” Remy asked.

Emile nodded. That was a good idea!

Remy got his phone. He paused and frowned. How did he call him again? He stumbled a bit trying to figure it out, luckily he had pictures next to the contact info so he didn’t have to read. Just click on the picture.

“Hello?” 

“Patton?” Remy asked.

“Oh! Hi Remy! What’s up?” 

“I need help!” Remy said panic in his voice.

“What’s wrong?” Patton asked, switching from bubbly to serious. 

“I’m..little and..Emile is too! And I need help!” Remy said.

“Ok! Calm down. I’m on my way, Kiddo ok?” Patton said.

Remy took a breath, “Ok.” 

“Do you want me to stay on the line till I get there?” PAtton asked.

“Please.” Remy said. 

So Patton did. He calmed Remy down by asking questions about how he had taken care of Emile and praising him for doing so well on his own.

Remy opened the door and hugged Patton as he stepped inside.

“Whoa! Ok!” Patton said, returning the hug while shutting the door behind him. “Where’s Emile?”

“Bedroom.” Remy said before darting off towards that room. Patton followed at his own pace.

There Emile sat on the ground half buried in plush animals and cartoon characters. “Paton!” He cried upon seeing him.

“Hey there kiddo! Are you doing ok?” Patton asked, kneeling down next to him. 

“Yeah!” Emile handed him a plush 

Remy climbed up on the bed and watched them from there. He felt a lot better now that he didn’t have to be in charge anymore. 

He felt kinda sleepy now that he wasn’t as stressed. 

“Can I..” He started before pausing. 

Patton looked up at him, “What do you need kiddo?” He asked arms full of stuffies that Emile kept handing him before taking back.

“Nap?” He asked.

“Aaaw! Of course! Do you want me and Emile to play in the other room?” Patton asked.

Remy shook his head, “Stay please.”

Patton nodded, “Do you want me to tuck you in?” 

Remy smiled, “Please?”

Patton got up, promised Emile that he would be back in a minute and went over to the bed. Remy crawled under the covers and Patton tucked him in, handed him a plushie that he took with him and kissed his forehead. Remy giggled a little at that and snuggled down farther under the blankets. He drifted off to sleep at the sound of Patton and Emile playing.

\---

He woke up alone. 

He frowned and looked around. Where did everyone go? He got out of bed and wandered into the other room. Emile sat in Patton lap eating fruit snacks and watching Dora the explorer.

“Why’d you go?” Remy asked.

“Sorry.” Patton said, “Emile wanted to watch t.v and we didn’t want to wake you.” 

Remy nodded then pointed at the fruit snacks. “Can I have some?”

“Of course!” Patton said smiling, “Do you need me to get them for you?”

Remy did want him to get them. But Emile was sitting on his lap and he didn’t want to make Emile move. He shook his head, “I got it!”

Patton noticed his hesitation but smiled anyway, “Ok! If you need help just call me!”

Remy nodded and walked off to the kitchen. He found the box with the snacks in it and grabbed a packet. He tried to open it and frowned. 

He tugged at it again. It wouldn’t open. He needs scissors! 

He pulled some out of the kitchen drawer and stuck his tongue out as he focused. 

Snip!

He grinned in pride as he dropped the scissors onto the counter and popped a fruit snack into his mouth. 

“Is everything ok in there?” Patton called.

“Yeah!” Remy yelled as he rushed back to the living room. He showed Patton the open packet. “See? All on my own!”

Patton beamed at him and ruffled his hair, “Great job!”

Remy beamed back and dropped down next to patton. He leaned against him and Emile looked over at him. He patted Remy’s head too. 

“Good!” He said copying Patton who laughed quietly at this. 

Remy smiled, “Thanks em.” Emile turned back to the t.v and Remy turned to watch too. 

Everything was fine.


	27. Worry baby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil needs Patton's help to regress. He ends up regressing further than he had planed.

It had been a long long long day. Virgil just wanted to relax. The best way to do that was to regress. The best way for him to regress was to go to Patton for help. The others knew and they were willing to help! Patton was just the best at it.

He found Patton in the kitchen. He smiled when he saw Virgil walk in. “Hey Kiddo! Need something?”

Virgil hesitated before nodding, “If..you aren’t busy.”

“Not too busy for you! What’s up?” Patton asked.

Virgil looked down at the ground. Normally he didn’t have a problem asking for what he wanted. This however..

Patton picked up on that. “You wanna feel small?” 

Virgil gave a tiny nod. 

“I think we can do that!” Patton said. “Hug?” 

“Ok.” Virgil slowly stepped forward and let Patton hug him. 

“It’s ok kiddo! Everything is ok. I’m here.” Patton swayed slightly with him.

Virgil took a deep breath and relaxed. “There we go! Good boy!” Patton encouraged.

Virgil hummed. “How about we go get you in some little clothes ok?” 

“Mkay.” Virgil muttered, grabbing Patton’s hand and being led to his room. 

Once there Patton pulled out a bat onesie for him. “Do you need help getting changed?” 

Virgil thought about it. He could do it on his own, but he would feel smaller faster with help. He had to check first. “Could you help?”

Patton smiled at him, “Of course baby.” 

Virgil smiled at that. 

It didn’t take long to get him changed. “Paci?” 

Virgil shook his head. He was feeling little but not that little. Patton pocketed it anyway in case he changed his mind later. 

“Well what do you want to do? Play a game? Color? Watch t.v?” Patton asked.

“Candy land?” Virgil asked.

“We can do that! Do you want anyone else to play too?” Patton asked.

Virgil thought about it before shaking his head. He wanted some quality time with just Patton. 

So Patton got the game out and they started playing. Virgil won. (After a couple sleight of hand cheats from Patton to make sure of it.) 

Then it was supper time. Virgil didn’t want to go down. 

The others were down there and he didn’t want to see them. He told Patton this.

“Why not? Was someone mean?” Patton asked, baffled.

Virgil shook his head, “No. Just...don’t wanna.” 

Patton sighed, “Well I need to go down.” 

“NO!” Virgil grabbed his hand, “Stay!” 

Patton glanced at the door then back towards Virgil. “I’ll be gone for just a minute ok? Then I’ll be back.” He pulled his hand from Virgil’s and darted out the door.

Virgil stared at the door in shock. Tears pricked his eyes. He sat down on the floor and cried quietly.

\---

Patton tried to hurry! He really did! It was just that Logan had a question. Roman needed his option on something. He had to stop Remus from destroying the kitchen. By the time he made the excuse that Virgil wouldn’t be coming down to eat and got their food it had almost been an hour.

“Sorry I was gone so long!” Patton said pushing the door open with his foot.

He was met with a crying Virgil who was curled up on the floor sucking on his thumb.

Patton put the plates down on a desk and got down next to Virgil. “Yucky.” He said, pulling Virgil’s thumb out of his mouth. 

Virgil whined. 

“Why didn’t you get your paci?” Patton asked.

Virgil teared up more, “I couldn’t find it!”

Patton frowned before he remembered that he put it in his pocket. He pulled it out with a brief sorry and popped it in Virgil’s mouth.

“There.” Patton said smiling. 

Virgil looked away from him. 

Patton’s smile dropped. “Is this because I left?” 

Virgil nodded at the floor. 

“I’m back now! That’s good right?” 

“You were gone!” Virgil cried. That made Patton’s heart break a little.

“But I’m back. I brought supper.” 

Virgil just shook his head and pulled up the hood of his onesie. 

Patton was starting to panic. He messed up and that was making him feel awful. “Please look at me?” he asked.

Virgil shook his head.

Patton’s lip quivered. “Please?” his voice broke.

Virgil shook his head again.

Patton dropped. He didn’t cry quietly like Virgil did. He full on wailed. Virgil looked up in shock just as Roman burst into the room. “What happened?” He was met with two sobbing littles.

“Oh.” He put away his sword. He dropped down to his knees just as Logan got to the door.

Virgil shied away from Roman, Patton hugged him. “I didn’t mean to!” He wailed.

“What didn’t you mean to do?” Logan asked.

“I hurt Virgil! I left him alone!” Patton said. Virgil was just staring at Patton at this point. Tears still ran down his face.

Logan got down next to Virgil who didn’t notice him until he put a hand on the little one’s shoulder. Virgil violently flinched away. 

“Whoa! It’s ok!” Roman said as Virgil bumped into him and then jumped back into the end of his bed. 

Logan and Roman shifted further away giving him space. Roman took Patton with him. 

“No! Pat…” Virgil said weakly reaching out for him

Patton climbed out of Roman’s lap and hugged Virgil. “Sorry.”

“Me too.” 

Patton pulled back, “You ok?”

Virgil nodded. Patton smiled. “Good.”

Patton moved to stand. Virgil whimpered, “You leaving again?”

Patton dropped back down, “No! I’ll stay!” He glanced at the desk where the food was. 

“I’ll grab that.” Logan said. 

“You feel like eating now?” Roman asked them. 

Patton nodded excitedly. Virgil bobbed his head once. 

“Now, well you require help eating?” Logan asked, sitting down with the food. 

“Please!” Patton said.

Virgil nodded. 

As they were fed Virgil refused to let go of Patton’s hand. He wasn’t going to let him run off again. Patton smiled at him, He had no plans of leaving anytime soon.

A couple hours later they were asleep on the bed next to each other. Both dressed in onesies and with their paci’s. A nightlight set up so they could sleep peacefully. The door was half open in case they needed anything. 

With that all set up Roman and Logan went to bed. 

Virgil’s eyes opened and he smiled as he saw Patton was still there. He snuggled closer to him and drifted off to sleep again. 

Finally fully relaxed.


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is more of a head cannon than a story. :P

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd be more than happy to write each other the sides watching him if anyone was interested in that. I just have to figure out the age range for Thomas. Maybe it varies from side to side?

How each side watches him

Logan was surprisingly the best at Watching Thomas while he was regressed. He had a schedule that Thomas would follow, a reward system for when he was good. He didn’t really need to ever put Thomas in time out as he knew the boundaries and stayed within them.

Virgil was tied with Janus, both equally good at keeping Thomas out of trouble. Virgil was more of a helicopter babysitter while Janus just had a good sense of when Thomas was about to do something dangerous.

Roman was next, he had a tedious to do everything as a grand gesture and was a bit louder than little Thomas would like. He was great at storytelling and creating things for Thomas to play with. They weren’t always safe though.

Patton was next to last. He had a bad habit of getting distracted or overly excited. He also never said no to Thomas which led to several stomach aches from too many sweets and staying up way to late.

Remus was the worst as he was not suitable for children at all. He scared Thomas more than once while the others were watching him and he popped up. They refuse to let him watch Thomas even with someone else there.


	29. Watching Thomas with Remus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas regresses Remus is the one to watch him

It was the middle of the night and no one else was up except Remus...and Thomas. Remus was just chilling when he heard it. The crying.

Remus popped into the real world and found Thomas crying into his pillow, curled up on himself in a pitch black room. When Remus showed up he whimpered and pulled the covers over his head.

That was odd. Thomas never tried to hide from him. (Like that would work! He was intrusive after all!) Remus flicked on the lights. Thomas peeked out at him and slowly lowered the blankets from his face. 

“Hey! You...doing ok?” Remus asked awkwardly. This wasn’t something he normally had to handle. 

Thomas shook his head and made grabby hands at him. 

Oh?...oh! Remus slapped his forehead. Right! Thomas would go non verbal.. Normally when he was regressed!

Remus froze. Shit! What was he supposed to do? Go wake up someone else to handle? Yeah! That sounds like a good idea!

He sunk down halfway before he was being summoned.

He was being...summoned? What?

He looked at Thomas who looked upset that Remus had tried to leave. “Look kid I’ll be back just...Let...me..go!” He tried leaving on each word and failed every time. Thomas was frowning at him stubborn.

Remus glared at him before sighing. “Fine! I guess the duke will have to do!” 

Thomas giggled. Remus stared at him shocked. “Did you just..laugh...at me?” His shocked expression must have been funny as Thomas giggled more.

Remus smiled, This was..nice. “So what can I do for you? Slapstick? Fake death?” 

Thomas made grabby hands again. Remus tilted his head in confusion. “A...hug?” Thomas nodded. He pointed to himself. “From me?” Thomas nodded again.

Remus threw himself onto the bed making Thomas laugh. He scooped up Thomas and held him to his chest. Thomas snuggled against him. Remus beammed so hard he was sure that his face would rip in half. Wouldn’t that be something?

Thomas pulled away after a minute and got out of bed. Remus watched as he ran off and realized after a minute that he should probably follow him. 

He heard a crash and got down stairs just as Virgil appeared. Thomas had dropped a mug which shattered on the kitchen floor. Remus looked at Virgil, “Wasn’t me!” He said quickly before he took in the state Virgil as in.

He was wearing his onesie and had a pacifier in. Well he wasn’t going to be any help! He sighed. “Why not get Roman?” Remus suggested. Virgil nodded and started to leave when…

Thomas held out his hand. He wouldn’t let him leave either. Remus rolled his eyes. Great! He as stuck with two of them! 

Thomas was about to take a step forward...onto ceramic shards. Normally Remus would encourage this behavior but the others would kill him twice over if Thomas got hurt right now and he didn’t do anything to stop it.

“No!” He and Virgil yelled at the same time. Thomas froze before he whimpered. Remus brushed the shards aside with his foot and picked Thomas up. He grabbed Virgil’s hand and led him along to the living room where he had them both sit on the couch. He gave Virgil the remote. 

“Watch something!” He commanded before going to clean up the mess in the kitchen. 

He swept the remains into the trash and then noticed the box of cereal that Thomas had been reaching for. He grabbed that and took it into the littles. He handed it to Thomas who happily started eating.

Virgil looked at him, “Oh don’t give me that look!” Remus said.

Virgil huffed at him around his paci. Curled up on the couch and watched the t.v sideways. Thomas was getting more and more reclinged as time passed. Soon he dropped the box which Remus caught before there was anything mess for him to clean up and he put a blanket over both of them. 

“Remus?” He spun around to find Logan. 

Thomas woke up and beamed. He made grabby hands towards Logan.

“Ah! I see. He’s regressed...as well as Virgil.” Logan said. “But that doesn’t explain why you’re here.” 

“He won’t let me leave.” Remus said. “I’m his new favorite!”

Logan walked over to Thomas and sat down next to him. Letting him lean against him. “Improbable.” He said with a slight smirk.

“Well aren’t you just a [censored] of a horse [censored] with [censored] [censored] and you can shove it up your perky little [censored] before you [censored] yourself back onto [censored so much censored]” Remus said while Logan covered Thomas’s ears.

“That was unnecessary.” Logan stated.

“And I’m out! Bye!” Remus said sinking out while Thomas was distracted.


	30. repression can be dangerous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus watches Roman in the Imagination had his inner demons attack.

“Come on!” Roman said tugging on Remus’s hand. “Adventure!” 

“Why not an adventure in the living room?” Remus said. Anything to keep Roman out of the imagination. Remus’s thoughts were stronger than normal today and he knew they would scare the Little if he wasn’t extremely careful.

Remus wasn’t a careful figment of imagination. 

“No! Imaganation!” Roman said tugging harder. 

Remus relented. He shouldn’t have.

As soon as they walked in blood started leaking up from the ground. “Aaaah...Look up!” He yelled. Roman looked up as Remus focused on draining the blood from the ground like it was a dried up husk of a corpse. 

“I don’t see anything!” Roman said.

“It’s gone now.” Remus lied. 

“Oh.” Roman nodded before he bolted off. 

“Whoa! Where are you going?” Remus yelled.

“Tag! Catch me!” Remus’s mind supplied a number of things that could catch him.

“Oh no!” Remus ran faster than he ever did in his life as monsters bubbled up from the ground. He almost tackled Roman before picking him up from behind. 

“Wha...hey!” 

“I win!” Remus said his voice strained as he looked over at the monsters and thought about them exploding and melting away into nothing. 

“Put me down!” Roman said.

Remus did. Roman huffed at him, “Ok. Now I tag you!” 

“I think we should play something else!” Remus blurted out. He was shaking a little from holding back so much. 

Repression isn’t a good thing.

“Re?” Roman asked.

Remus brushed it off, “Let’s play..” something nice and safe. What the heck is nice and safe? “Dress up?”

Roman looked at him skeptically. “That’s not an adventure.” 

“Hide and seek?” Remus asked. 

“Ok!” Roman agreed. 

Remus cheated. He peeked through his fingers and watched as Roman ducked behind a tree.

Heh. Imagine if that tree had a mouth and it ate him? The thought popped into his head.

Remus paled as the tree began to shift. He got there just in time to block the large wooden mouth with his arm. It bit through it and swallowed. 

Roman screamed. 

Remus thought about the tree lighting on fire and screaming as it burned. He managed to cover Roman’s ears and tuck his face into his chest just as it lit on fire. 

It burned quickly. The screams were some of the best Remus had ever imagined. Too bad he couldn’t enjoy it.

“Hey..It’s ok now.” Remus said panting a little as he pulled back to look at Roman’s face.

Roman was crying. Remus felt guilty. “No no! It’s ok now! You’re safe!” 

“Your arm!” Roman said, pointing. Oh...right...Remus waved his other hand and the arm grew back. He hid the process from Roman’s eyes as bones shot out before muscle and skin shot out in strips before binding themselves tightly to the bone base.

“See?” Remus wiggled his fingers. “All good!” 

Roman hugged him, “I wanna go back now.”

Even though that’s what Remus wanted the whole time he didn’t like the sense of failure that came with those words. He took Roman back and tried not to wince as Roman ripped his hand from his to throw himself at Logan.

“What happened?” Logan asked looking between the crying prince in his arms and the awkward Duke.

“Re lost an arm!” Roman cried.

Remus winced and looked away. “Oh.” Logan said.

“You’ve got this so…” Remus said, starting to leave.

“Are you alright?” Logan asked.

“Of course I am.” Remus said after a baffled pause.

“You don’t seem so.” Logan said.

“We gotta get him a cookie.” Roman said. “That makes it better!” 

“You…” Remus started. 

Roman got up and grabbed Remus’s hand and dragged him to the kitchen. “Cookies make everything better.” He promised.

“I agree. Getting one’s arm removed must be traumatic.” Logan said following them.

Remus rolled his eyes, “An average Wednesday for me.” 

“Then you need cookies a lot!” Roman said.

Well Remus couldn’t argue with that. He was rather touched by how Roman wanted to take care of him. Even if that was supposed to be the other way around at the moment. 

So Logan sat them down, and they each got a cookie and milk. Then Roman dragged him to the couch to watch a disney movie because, “Disney makes it better.”

Roman fell asleep against Remus’s side even though Logan stayed as well. Remus smiled and closed his eyes to sleep too.


	31. sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remy is a surprisingly good caregiver.

He was sleep, so of course he was soothing when he wanted to be. Never when the others were around. He was brash and sassy. Smart mouthed and he didn’t shut up. 

So how was he able to calm Thomas down within minutes after the worst nightmares? Or get him to play quietly when he was regressed? 

Logan was confused. It didn’t make sense!

So he decided to set up hidden cameras to see what was really going on. So he waited for a time which Thomas was close to regressing then made sure that the other sides would be busy so Remy was the only one available. 

Then he woke Thomas up in the middle of the night before sitting back and watching from his screens.

“What’s up babes?” Remy asked.

Thomas whimpered. It was like a switch had been flipped. Remy’s coffee was gone, his sunglasses pushed up higher on his head and he was cradling Thomas in his arms in an instant. 

“Hey hey shhh. It’s ok.” Remy said softly.

Logan blinked intrigued by the personality change. He wished that he could zoom in. 

“Bad dreams?” Remy asked.

Thomas shook his head, “A noise.” 

“Something woke you up?” Thomas nodded. “It’s ok. I’m here. Nothing can get to you.” Remy looked directly at the camera. 

Logan froze. How did he know?

Remy turned back towards Thomas and Logan guiltily turned off the camera. 

\---

Logan jumped when Remy appeared behind him as he got his morning coffee. “How’s our little spy doing today?”

“Remy I just..” 

“Save it. I don’t care why. Just don’t do it again. The only one allowed to mess with tommy’s sleep is me. Got it?” He asked. 

Logan nodded. Remy smiled sharply. “Good.”

Logan didn’t stop watching Remy after that. He was just more careful about it. He noted every interaction with Thomas. 

How he was softer sometimes than others. Some days there was no contact, others he would put an arm around Thomas's shoulders. He was also more accurate at guessin when Thomas would regress than even Logan was. 

It was interesting. When Logan finally asked him about it Remy shrugged and just replied with, “I’ve been around longest babes. I’ve got a pretty good feel about these things.”

Logan didn’t realize the depth of sleep until he regressed and Remy was there when it happened.

“You ok babes? You got really quiet.” 

Logan looked up at him, “You should go.” 

“You kicking me out?” Remy said.

“No I’m just...You shouldn’t have to be here when I’m...small.” Logan said too far gone to not tell the truth.

There was the switch flipped. “Oh.” Remy’s voice got softer. “That’s fine. I don’t mind.”

“You don’t?” 

“No. I’ll stay with you if you want.” Remy promised.

Logan nodded. “Please?”

Remy smiled at him. He got Logan into pajamas instead of his normal clothing. He got him juice and crackers and set him up with a cartoon movie about space. He let Logan sit in his lap as they watched and tucked him into bed when he fell asleep.

Logan and Remy never spoke about it, but whenever Logan needed someone to watch him Remy was there.


	32. Want Logan part one.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus is regressed and Logan is the chosen one.

Remus was regressed mentally and physically to the age of two. His tiny body sitting in the middle of his adult clothing having shrunk out of them. He sat there naked and a bit scared. He didn’t know what was happening! Why was he small?

He started wailing as he shivered at the cold air in his room. Tears pouring down his face. 

The door opened and in stepped Logan. He looked at Remus and the clothing. He summoned a toddler onesies and put it on the kid. Remus snuggled against Logan’s chest. Content. 

“How on earth did this happen?” Roman asked as he watched Remus play with Logan’s fingers. 

“I just found him like this...well naked.. He appears to have shrunken out of his clothing.” Logan said, pulling his fingers away as Remus tried to shove them in his mouth. Roman summoned a paci and gave it to Remus who happily shoved it into his mouth.

“So how do we fix it?” Roman asked.

“Well it is most likely just like any other regression and we just have to wait it out.” Logan said.

“Normally we don’t shrink down.” Roman said.

“Remus is different. We’ve never encountered him when regressed before this may be normal for him.” Logan said.

Remus yawned and dropped his paci. Logan caught it and popped it back in his mouth. He then handed the toddler to Roman. “Wha-Logan!” 

“I have things to take care of. Besides he takes care of you when you're regressed. This is your chance to return to favor.” Logan said matter of factly before walking off.

Roman looked down at Remus who was half asleep with a fist of his sash in his little hand. 

\---

It was clear after Remus woke up that he had a favorite Caregiver. Anytime someone said Logan’s name he would look around and cry for him. 

Logan walked by? Grabby hands and crying.

Someone said something somewhat smart? He’d say Logan and started crying. 

If Logan picked him up he did not want to be set back down. Logan would try to leave the room without him and he would crawl or waddle his way after him. He was attached. No one else could distract him.

Patton tried his hardest only to he meant with crying. Virgil scared him. Janus got close to calming him down by pretending to be Logan but Remus saw through it somehow and smacked him in the face while yelling no.

Logan ended up taking him to his room and setting him on his bed while he worked. An assortment of toys on the bed with him. Logan would hear rattling or bouncing. Often glancing up to make sure Remus wasn’t getting too close to the edge of the bed. Not that it mattered if he fell off, there were cushions placed all around the bed on the floor.

Remus sat watching Logan work. He was getting frustrated. Smarty pants should be helping him! 

He threw a toy at Logan. He missed horribly. Logan looked up at him then at the toy. He picked it up and tossed it back on to the bed. Remus waved his hands at him.

“Hi.” Logan said.

Remus pointed at himself. Logan titled his head, “You?”

He nodded and pointed to Logan. “Me?”

Another nod. Then grabby hands. “Pick you up? I can’t right now. I’m busy.”

“Logan! Up!” Remus said, spitting out his paci.

Logan sighed. “Remus I don’t have time for you right now.” He turned back to his desk. 

Remus teared up. He wails. “Remus stop!” Logan snapped without looking up.

Remus stops wailing, his lip quivers. He crawled over and dropped off the bed before crawling under it. 

When Logan glanced up next Remus was gone. He jumped up. The door was open. How did he get past him? He darted out of the room. Damn it! He shouldn’t have yelled at him. 

“Logan? Where’s Remus?” Patton asked.

“I don’t know. I think he slipped out while I was working.” Logan said.

“You were supposed to be watching him!” 

“Save it for later. Right now we need to find him.” Logan said.

It didn’t take long to gather everyone up and get them all looking. They searched everywhere that wasn’t Logan’s room. And (shocker) couldn’t find him

“He can’t have just disappeared!” Logan said frantic.

“Whoa. Calm down! You’re freaking out more than I am.” Virgil said.

“Breath. We’ll get him.” Roman said.

Logan nodded, he returned to his room. A fresh start. Had he searched here? He looked in his closet then dropped down to look under the bed. There he was taking a nap. 

Logan sighed in relief. He reached under and managed to get Remus out without waking him up. He held him to his chest reluctant to set him down again. 

So Remus slept cuddled to Logan’s chest as he returned to work. He woke up on a sleeping Logan. He got down and waddled off. 

“What are you doing?” He looked up to find Remy. “Everyone else is asleep.”

Remus reached his arms up, “up!” 

Remy raised an eyebrow before sighing and picking him up. “It's a good thing you’re cute like this.” He muttered as he took him down to get him some warm milk. 

He tucked Remus into bed and sat close by as the little one slept. 

In the morning Logan panicked as he woke up with Remus gone again. He ripped his door open and found an adult Remus standing there ready to knock. 

Logan jumped back in surprise. “Oh..Hi.”

“..Good...You’re grown again.. That’s..good.” Logan said. He ignored the slight twinge of disappointment. 

“Yeah. I wanted to thank you for watching me when I was...you know.” Remus said looking off, his eyes distant.

Logan nodded, “Was that the first time that happened?” 

“What?” Remus said snapping his attention back. “No. That happens when I...repress himself.”

Logan frowned, “Why would you do that?” 

“I’m unbridled creativity! That can be….dangerous.” Remus’s voice dropped on the last word. He cleared his throat. “So I sweep it under the rug with the rest of the nastiness!”

“That’s...not healthy.” Logan said concerned.

Remus shrugged, “For everyone else it is! For me? Who cares! I turn into a baby sometimes.” He got that distant look on his face again.

“Are you always alone when that happens?” 

Remus shifted on his feet, “Last time...was the first time that I wasn’t. So yes.” 

“Remus.” 

“It’s fine! Really! I can handle myself!” Remus assured him.

“But you don’t have to! Next time I am taking care of you. got it?” Logan said.

Remus blinked, before wordlessly nodding. 

Logan took a breath. “Good. Now, let’s go get breakfast.”


	33. twin trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus and Roman regress together.

Turns out Remus wasn’t the only one that would shrink when they put off regressing too long. Something they all found out when both Remus and Roman had been working together non stop for two weeks during a creative burst. 

Roman was working himself to exhaustion and Remus was holding back all the nastier stuff so he could be of service. As soon as they finished and got into their beds, they dropped.

Patton found Roman after a toddler Remus went streaking through the hallway naked. Logan caught him and wrestled him into a diaper and pants. Remus managed to take his shirt off. After the third time he took it off, Logan gave up.

Roman was just slightly bigger than Remus but not by much. He was still asleep when Patton found him. Patton stayed in there and waited for him to wake up instead of waking him in case he scared him. 

When Roman woke up it was easy to get him dressed and down stairs for breakfast. He saw Remus was also small and got very excited. “Re!” 

Remus looked up from his cereal. “Ro!” 

He started to squirm down out of his seat before Logan stopped him, “Finish eating first.”

“Mkay!” 

Patton put Roman down in the chair next to Remus and went to get Roman cereal. He returned to Remus trying to feed Roman his cereal and Roman going along with it.

“Logan! Why didn’t you stop him?” Patton asked, setting Roman’s bowl in front of him.

“I didn’t see any reason to upset Remus by telling him that he couldn’t share.” Logan said. “Isn’t that an important lesson for children?”

“Well..yes.” Patton relenanted as Roman dug into his food and Remus went back to eating his own.

As soon as they were finished they ran off to play. Roman better at walking than Remus was by quite a bit. So when Remus fell down Roman ran back to help him up before Logan could.

“Aaaw!” Patton said watching as Roman helped his brother up and then grabbed his hand so that he wouldn’t fall again. “Ok! Who wants to color?”

They sat down on the floor, each with a coloring book. Remus insisted on Logan sitting next to him. So Roman made Patton do the same thing for him. 

It went like that for most of the day. Roman would do something then Remus would copy him or visa versa. It got to the point where they were just watching the other waiting for them to make the first move.

“It’s like a tiny showdown.” Virgil commented. 

Patton laughed. “Any idea how long this will last?” He asked Logan.

“Well it took Remus over sixteen hours to revert back to normal. “I think we can expect something similar this time.” 

Janus walked and took one look at the twins before turning and walking out again.

Remus got bored of their game of copycat and waddled over to Logan. He held his arms up, “Up!”

Logan picked him up. Remus yawned and laid his head down on Logan’s shoulder, a tiny arm hugging his throat. 

“It looks like nap time.” Logan said.

Roman pouted, “But..I wanna play with Re!” 

“Remus needs to sleep now.” Patton said gently. 

Roman shook his head, “No! Re!” 

Remus started and looked around confused. He had almost fallen asleep. Tears appeared in his eyes. 

“Shh. it’s ok.” Logan said, swaying a bit. 

“Put him down!” Roman yelled at Logan.

“Roman you need to calm down this isn’t...ow!” Roman kicked Logan’s leg.

Patton picked him up, “Ok. It’s time out, time mister.” 

Roman screamed and kicked his legs. Remus started bawling. 

Logan left the room to calm him down better. Roman yelling no the whole time.

Patton det him down in the corner, Roman tried to dart past him to follow Logan. Patton blocked him. 

“No no no! Re!” Roman yelled, crying reaching for his brother.

“He’s going to take a nap now. He’s tired.” Patton explained.

“Give him back! RE!” 

Patton looked up at Virgil for help. 

“Ok. You can see him but you have to be really quiet.” Virgil blurted out.

“I see Re?” Roman said breathing heavily. 

“IF you are quiet.” Patton whispered the last word to get the point across. 

Patton picked him up again and they went to Logan’s room. 

Remus was laying on Logan’s bed asleep. Logan raised an eyebrow at Patton. 

“Shouldn’t you say something to Logan?” Patton asked the boy.

Roman looked away from Remus, “Sorry…Can I see Re now?”

“Quiet. Don’t wake him.” Patton said setting Roman down.

Roman walked over and peeked over the edge of the bed at his brother before climbing up onto the bed next to him and laying down. He put a hand over Remus’s closed one and just watched him. 

Logan nodded to Patton who smiled before leaving. Roman drifted off to sleep next to his brother. 

\---

“Remus give that back!” Roman yelled bigger again.

Remus laughed as he jumped over the couch and took off up the stairs. Roman tan a hand through his hair. “I can not stand him!” 

Patton, Virgil, and Logan shared a look before bursting out laughing.

Roman looked at him, “What?”

They laughed harder at his offend expression.


	34. Sleepy logic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this at 3 am while not being able to sleep. ;-; 
> 
> I have no idea if it's any good at this point. ;-;

Logan had a bad habit of putting off things that had to do with his own health. Eating? That can wait. Shower? Who’s that? Regression? He doesn’t have time to waste time like that!

So that’s how they ended up like this, Logan staring Remy down at 3 am. He hadn’t eaten for two days, hadn’t showered in longer and was on the edge of Regressing. 

“I can out last you kid.” Remy stated.

“I’m not…” Logan protested before he realized that sounded childish.

Remy raised an eyebrow, “How about this. Let’s get you a bubble bath, then some food before tucking you in for a good night’s sleep?” 

That did sound good. Logan half shook his head. He didn’t want to.. “No laugh?” He asked smaller.

“Why would I laugh at my baby?” Remy asked.

Logan nodded, “Ok.” 

Remy let Logan take his hand and led him to the bathroom. He ran a bath with a lot of bubbles. 

“Do you need help getting undressed?” Remy asked.

Logan shook his head and soon enough he was in the tub. Remy let him play with bath toys while he washed his hair. Logan giggled as he was rinsed off and Remy dried him off before grabbing the onesie for him. 

He helped him zip it up and took him to the kitchen. “What do you want to eat?”

“Peanut butter an jelly?” Logan asked.

“With milk?” Remy asked.

“Please.”

Remy cut the sandwich into squares and then filled a sippy cup with warm milk. Logan ate all of it very quickly. Remy was tempted to make him a second one but then Logan yawned and rubbed his eyes. 

It was nearly 4 in the morning long past when he should have been in bed. Remy led him to bed and tucked him in.

“Night night pumpkin.” He kissed the top of Logan’s head. 

“Nit.” Logan said his eyes mostly closed. 

He drifted off to sleep, fed, clean and safe.


	35. want Logan and twin trouble continued.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman doesn't want his brother taken away again.

“This is a bad idea.” Virgil warned. 

“Please! It’s just for a couple hours.” Patton insisted. “Logan can’t watch both of them on his own!” Virgil looked over to where Remus and Roman sat together with Logan on the floor. 

“What about Janus?” Virgil hated to suggest it but Janus would probably be better at it then he was.

“I’ve got to go!” Patton said sinking out into the real world to help Thomas. He sent a thumbs up as he left. 

Virgil took a breath. This was fine! He was just back up in case something went wrong. It was fine! Logan would be doing most of the work.

And he did! Until Thomas summoned him too. 

“I’ll be back as quickly as possible.” He promised handing him a sleepy Remus. 

Remus immediately panicked and reached for Logan. He was squirming so much Virgil was scared he’d drop him. “Can’t you just take him with you?” 

Logan felt the pull of the summon again before he glanced back at a crying Remus. “Fine!” He grabbed Remus and then they were both gone. 

Virgil sighed in relief. He just had one of them to watch now. This was ok. Roman was just playing with a puzzle on the floor.

Virgil sat down close by and watched him as Roman sat with his tongue stuck up focusing on putting the puzzle together. As soon as he put the last piece in Virgil clapped, “Good job!” 

Roman looked up at him beaming before he turned around, “Re look it’s done!...Re?” He looked around confused as where his brother and Logan had been before there was just air.

“Roman it’s fine.” Virgil said, trying to calm the rising panic in Roman.

“Where’s Re?” Roman asked standing up. He looked around again, “RE!” 

Shit! Virgil had forgotten about how panicked Roman got last time Remus left the room when they were both regressed.

“It’s ok. He’s just with Logan.” Virgil said.

Roman looked at him, “Why? Did we do something bad again? I didn’t mean it!” Roman cried.  
Again? “You did do anything bad.” Virgil promised.

“But they took Re! And I...I didn’t mean to be bad! I’ll be good! I want Re!” Roman cried. 

Virgil hugged him which did nothing for the anxiety rising in the boy. Why did he think if he was bad then…

Oh.

When they were younger they were separated. That fear of separation must only come out when he was little. “Wait here for a second ok?” Virgil asked.

Roman looked at him confused but nodded.

Virgil sunk out into the real world. 

“Virgil! Why are you here I didn’t-” Thomas started.

“Who’s watching Roman?” Patton and Logan asked at the same time. 

“Can’t talk. Need this.” He said grabbing Remus from Logan and sinking out.

He showed back up and was tackled by Roman. “RE!” 

Remus woke up a little and looked at his brother, “Ro?”

Roman hugged his brother like his life depended on it. “I’m sorry. They won’t take you again!...right?” Roman asked looking up at Virgil.

“No one is going to separate you two again.” Virgil promised. 

\---

It was another hour or two before Remus reverted back to normal. Roman stayed little. Virgil held his breath at this. 

“Re?” Roman asked looking up at his brother. Remus blinked, “Do I look like that too?” 

“Well..yeah.” Virgil said.

Remus put a hand to his face, “The mustache?” 

“Not there. Sorry.” Virgil said.

Remus sighed in disappointment before looking down as Roman tugged on his pant leg. “Re?”

“Yeah?” 

“You gotta leave now?” Roman asked.

Virgil frantically shook his head. Remus shook his head, “No I can stay. Do you want to play something?” 

Virgil sighed in relief. “Piggy back ride?”

Remus smiled, “Sure kid.”

Virgil made a note to tell Logan and Patton about never separating the twins when Roman was regressed again.


	36. I didn't mean it.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman regresses after a long week and a few mean comments.

Roman had a rough week. A long, long, long week. He was beat and he just wanted to relax. Maybe let himself regress as it had been nagging at him for the past few hours. 

Later. He had to finish this first, then there was dinner, movie night, he had to give his newest idea to Logan. 

He rubbed his temples. Later! He told himself firmly pushing back the foggy that tried to cover his thoughts.

He finished writing up his newest idea then stretched. He got up and went to give it to Logan and found Janus there as well.

“Oh..It’s you.” 

“How very observational of you.” Janus said. 

Logan laughed. Roman didn’t say anything else; he just handed the papers to Logan and walked out. 

“Very charming.” Janus said as he left. Logan laughed again.

Don’t… just hold on a bit longer! He told himself, shaking his head. 

“You ok Princy?” Virgil asked.

Roman forced a smile. It looked perfect, “Of course. A mild headache.” 

“If you’re sure.” Virgil said turning away.

“Yeah!” NO!

Roman moved on. It was going to be dinner soon. He took a steadying breath. He could do this.

He avoided Janus’s and Logan’s eyes as he sat down at dinner. It was pasta. He smiled at that. He needed something that would cheer him up. 

Until Virgil jokes, “Better eat fast before Princy eats it all.” 

Janus and Patton laughed. Roman stiffened. “Actually I have something I have to finish up.” He said standing up.

Patton looked up and frowned. “But you didn’t eat lunch! At least take a plate with you!”

Roman shook his head, “I’m really not hungry.” He had to get out of there!

Janus looked at him as he almost ran out of the room.

Virgil looked down guilty. “I didn’t think that he would...I just wanted to lighten the mood.” 

Patton just stared after where Roman ran off. “I guess we should go ahead and eat?” He said dejected. He had made this just for Roman after he had done such a good job lately and deserved something he liked. He didn’t mean to laugh at him.

Dinner was silent. 

Roman had blocked his door with a chair before dropping. Hard.

He cried and he was hungry and he was alone! He knew he was supposed to go get someone when he was regressed but Janus and Virgil made fun of him! And Patton and Logan laughed!

He curled up tighter as his stomach growled. He really really wanted pasta now. Instead he got some of his crackers that he would snack on while he worked sometimes. They were stale and he didn’t have any water.

He only ate two before giving up and going to change his clothing into Pajamas. He struggled with it a bit but managed fine. He crawled into bed and hugged his teddy bear. He was too tired to cry anymore.

He fell asleep. 

He woke when Patton came knocking. “Are you coming down for the movie?” 

He looked around confused. There was a movie? But..it was sleep time. Right? That’s why he was sleeping? Or maybe that was a nap.

He sat up. “Mkay.” He muttered.

“Roman?” Patton called. Roman frowned, why was Patton outside? He looked over, Why was there a chair there? That’s not where chairs go.

He got up and moved the chair. He went to open the door when it opened and hit him. He fell down backwards and looked up hurt as Patton blinked down at him. 

“Oh my gosh! I’m so so sorry! Are you ok?” Patton asked, dropping down next to him.

“Hurts.” He said rubbing his forehead.

“Oh I’m sorry.” Patton said. 

Roman shrugged. He never really talked much when he was little. Something Virgil once said was great even if Roman didn’t get it at the time. It hurt later.

Virgil..dinner! Roman glared at Patton and huffed getting to his feet. 

“Roman?” Patton asked, “Are you little?”

Roman didn’t reply, instead he just climbed back into bed. He hugged his teddy bear again. At least he wouldn’t laugh at him.

“I really am sorry! I didn’t mean to hit you with the door!” Patton said sitting down on the edge of the bed.

“You laugh!” Roman said, pressing his face into the bear. “And Logan! And Virgil was mean! And Janus! And...and..” He started crying.

“I didn’t mean to make you cry.” Janus said from the doorway. 

Roman looked at him and then hid his face again. “I didn’t either.” Virgil said. 

“I shouldn’t have laughed.” Logan said.

Roman shrugged and looked at the wall. “Do you still want to watch a movie?” 

“Sleep.” Roman said. 

“Ok.” Patton said standing up. “I’ll keep the door open incase you want to come join us.”

Roman didn’t respond. They slowly left the room leaving him alone. He didn’t sleep for a while as his hunger gnawed at his stomach. He waited until everyone else went to bed before sneaking down stairs for some food. 

There was a plate of Pasta saved for him. It had his name and everything! He really really wanted it. He almost pulled it out of the fridge when Virgil’s words played in his head again. 

He ended up with dry cereal and by then he was really really thirsty. He wanted some juice but he would have to pour some and he couldn’t reach the glasses. Dejected and thirsty he ended up drinking from the sink before going back to bed.

He closed the door. 

When he woke up the next morning he was still little. He wanted to go down for breakfast but that would mean seeing everyone. He was hungry again though. So he got up and opened the door. He went downstairs in his pajamas and looked around. 

No one. 

Be was disappointed until he remembered that he was mad at them. Why was he mad again? He couldn’t remember. 

“Oh! You’re up!” He spun around and found Patton. “Feeling better?”

Roman nodded before opening his arms for a hug. Patton blinked. “Oh..Ok.” He gave Roman a hug and Roman sighed. He felt a lot better.

“Food?” 

“Sure! You want the pasta from...last..night…” Patton cleared his throat as Roman looked down. “Why not some eggs?”

“Yeah!” Roman agreed.

The rest of the day went like that. He was fine as long as no one brought up anything that happened the day before. He even gave everyone hugs and asked for snuggles and was very happy, unless they tried to apologize.

It was late evening when he snapped out of it. He sighed and put his head in his hands.

“Roman?” Patton asked. Everyone looked up as Roman sat on the floor with his head in his hands. 

“It’s fine.” He said hollowly. “I’m just...tired.” 

“You know I can taste lies right?” Janus said.

“No really! I’m fine!” Roman said his hands drifted up to grip the edges of his hair tightly. “I’m just..I overreacted.”

“You were hurt by what we said.” Virgil said.

“And I went and cried about it! How mature!” Roman snapped. He took a breath. “Sorry that was uncalled for.”

“You’ve been so stressed out. I’m not surprised that that managed to set you off.” Logan said.

“But it shouldn't have! It was just a couple jokes! I can take a couple jokes!” Roman said, jumping to his feet.

“Roman. If something hurts...It hurts...It doesn’t matter how much it shouldn’t.” Patton said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

The Prince deflated. “I don’t know..I just..I need some time.” He said leaving the room.


	37. Doctor? I don't wanna!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil regresses at a bad time.

(This is human au)

Virgil was anxious. (shocker) And he had about two hours before he had to leave to go see the doctor. It was going to be fine! OR they would find something that was slowly killing him and he didn’t even know it!

“Breath.” Logan said.

“Hu huh. Yeah. sure.” Virgil said as he paced. 

Logan sighed and put his book down. “You need to calm down.” 

“I’m calm!” Virgil insisted. 

Logan raised an eyebrow. Virgil groaned, “Alright I’m a little stressed.”

“Do you need help relaxing?” Logan asked.

“Please.” 

“Come here.” Logan patted the couch next to him.

Virgil sat down and faced his boyfriend. “Breath in….good..hold it….and…. Breath out..” 

Virgil followed as Logan silently counted in his head. They ran through that exercise a few times before Virgil relaxed some.

At least until he glanced at the clock. His leg started to bounce nervously.

An hour forty. 

“Virgil.” He turned back towards Logan. “It’s fine.”

Virgil nodded once. He wanted to bite his thumb. He got his hand half way to his mouth before Logan caught it. “None of that love.” He muttered.

“Mkay.” Virgil said, dropping a little. 

Logan nodded, “Alright. Maybe we need to get your mind off it. Let’s try a word association game.”

“Ok.” 

“I’ll start. Horse.”

“Fast.”

“Car.”

“Crash.” Logan frowned at that.

“Sugar rush.” 

“Cupcake.” Virgil said.

Logan smiled. “Frosting.”

“Cake.”

“Wedding.” 

“Love.”

“You.” Logan said.  
Virgil sputtered. “Umm...You can’t just..”

“What?” Logan asked feigning confusion. 

“You know...Jerk.” Virgil muttered.

Logan laughed and kissed Virgil’s forehead. 

Virgil dropped. He blinked and shifted in his seat. Logan looked at him closely. “Oh! I got you in little space didn’t I?”

“MmmHmm.” Virgil nodded and hummed. 

“Well… that’s one way to relax.” Logan said. 

Virgil had a tendency to go non verbal. So he just cuddled up to Logan’s side and hummed.

Logan put an arm around him and picked up his book again. He let Virgil play with his fingers until it was fifteen minutes till Virgil had to leave. He put his book down.

“Ok. It’s time to be big again.” Logan said.

Virgil whimpered and shook his head. Logan frowned. “I know you don’t want to but you need to be an adult right now.”

Virgil shook his head and pointed at himself. Logan scanned his face. “Are you...you can’t be big?”

Virgil nodded. He tapped his head and shrugged. 

This wasn’t good. Logan took a breath. He had fifteen minutes. He could snap him out of this. 

Right?

Ten minutes.

Five minutes.

Nothing he was doing was working! Virgil could sense his frustration and was getting more and more upset.

He whined and hugged himself. Logan put an arm around him, “Hey it’s ok. We’ll figure it out.”

Virgil sobbed, “B-bad.” 

“Bad? What’s bad?” Logan asked.

Virgil tapped his head.

“A headache?” Virgil shook his head, “You’re headspace?”

“Bad.” Virgil repeated.

He felt bad in Little space. That so rarely happened. “It’s ok. Hey...It’s ok. I’m here. I’ve got you!” 

“Can’t...do it.” Virgil said.

“Yes you can.” Logan assured him.

Virgil sobbed again. Logan hugged him tighter. “You’re getting there.” The more he talked the more he got out of it.

“No.” 

“Tell me your favorite color.” Logan said.

“Purple.” 

“Light or dark?”

“Both.”

“How old are you?” 

“Twenty seven.” Virgil answered calmly.

“And you can do this.” Logan said firmly.

Virgil looked up at him tired. “Thanks.” 

“Anytime...Speaking of time.” Logan said looking at the clock.

Virgil jumped up and bolted out of the room. Grabbing his keys as he went. He was barely on time. Logan took a deep breath as soon as Virgil was gone. That was close.


	38. Doctor? I don't wanna! part two.

The appointment had gone well and they hadn’t found anything wrong. Could have missed something..Virgil shook his head. He needed to focus. He was never going to be able to drive home if he kept worrying so much. 

He could feel his little head space creeping up on him. He never snapped himself out of it. It always went away on its own. He didn’t know how rapidly it came back when he forced his way out of it but he was about to find out.

He was almost home. 

Then he almost died.

A car ran a red light and crashed right into the car in front of him. He swerved and hit the brakes narrowly avoiding the wreck.

He sat shaking tears pouring down his face as the reality that he had almost run right into it and died settled in like a suffocating blanket. 

He dropped and started crying. He fumbled for his phone. 

“How’d the appointment….” Logan stopped as he picked up on the crying.

“What happened?” He asked.

Virgil forced the word out, “Crash.” 

“How badly are you hurt?” Logan said his voice tight, forcing himself to remain calm.

“Not.” 

“You aren’t hurt?” 

“Yeah.”

“Did you regress?” Logan asked.

Virgil just sobbed.

“Ok. It’s ok. You’re going to be ok. Just breathe for me. Can you do that?” 

Virgil nodded and took a breath. “S-scared.”

“It’s ok. Can you get home?”   
Virgil looked at the controls of the vehicle that suddenly looked forgien and strange. “No.” He sobbed again.

“Ok. I need you to tell me where you are.” Logan said. Virgil could hear a door opening. There were sirens in the distance. 

Virgil managed to find a street sign. “Good. That’s close. I’ll be there soon.” 

“Please.” Was all Virgil could force out.

There was a knock on his window and he dropped the phone. Someone he didn’t know was standing outside. They kept mouthing things and pointing. 

Virgil started to shake harder. 

Then Logan showed up. He quickly spoke with the man and opened the door. “Hey. It’s ok. I’m here now.”

Virgil cried and hugged him. 

“Ok. Do you think you can scoot over into the passenger seat?” Logan asked.

Virgil did so and Logan climbed into the driver’s spot. “Alright. I’m going to take you home now ok?” 

Virgil hummed. He was calming down now that Logan was there.

Logan carried him inside and set him down on the couch. He pulled up a blanket around him. “Hot chocolate?”

Virgil nodded. Logan came back quickly with a cup of it, Virgil smiled at the marshmallows. He hummed happily. 

Logan sat down next to him and hugged Virgil to his side. Virgil hummed again. He took a breath trying to calm his rapid heartbeat. They were both safe. He squeezed Virgil a little. 

They were safe. 

“T.v?” Virgil asked.

“Ok.” Logan said reaching over and grabbing the remote. He handed it to Virgil who giggled before turning the t.v on. 

He settled on some cartoon movie that Logan had never seen but it seemed kid friendly. So Virgil settled in to watch sipping at his hot chocolate, Logan kept watching him. 

They were safe.


	39. Hallucinations.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING THIS CHAPTER HAS SOME MENTIONS OF GROSS STUFF!!

Remus saw things. He saw lots of gross bloody things. Out of the corner of his eye, in the dark corners of his room, when he was asleep. Normally they didn’t bother him. He could control them so they didn’t show up for the others either. 

At least when he was big.

When he was little it was a different story. He didn’t have control over it and they could see anything he could see when he was around them. It had only happened once and he had sworn that he would never regress around them again because of it.

After all, Patton still had nightmares and Virgil would shake anytime that it was brought up. They had just thought that he was messing with them, not knowing he had regressed and thus had no control over it. 

He kept that secret for years. Describing the things that no longer bothered him as he saw them all the time. Much to the others dismay. They, reluctantly, got used to it. Learned to tune it out. Tune him out, even when he was trying to be more...tolerable. 

It was fine. He had come to terms with this a long long time ago. He was just thrilled that they didn’t care that he was there instead of the glares and the ‘oh god Remus no! Why?’ Or ‘Please just stop setting things on fire!’ Or ‘I need brain bleach!’

Instead he got eye rolls and long suffering sighes. It was great! No one tried to kick him out anymore. He didn’t have to fight for a place at the table. 

Then again they still didn’t want him around. They just tolerated it. He’d overheard them loads of times talking about how ‘disturbing’ and ‘unwelcome’ he really was. He ignored the… sharp pain that made him feel in his chest like they ignored him. 

This was what he did! He should be proud of that! Even if no one wanted him around. Or they didn’t appreciate the way he blocked all the worst thoughts by filtering them through him. It was fine! He was fine!

He was…

Lying.

He was lying all the time. He lied about being fine. He lied about what he was thinking about. He lied when he said that he slept, or ate, or that no he wasn’t sad. Why would he be sad? He had all these lovely things surrounding him keeping him company when no one else would.

Janus first noticed it when Remus was quieter than normal at dinner. He ate normally, not for him. There was no shoving it in his mouth or trying to eat the plate. No he ate normally, like everyone else. No weird bugs or soaps added to his food. A deadly amount of salt or human organs. Nothing. He didn’t say a word either.

No one else seemed to notice. Were they really that used to just ignoring him? It wasn’t until Patton glanced up and saw that Remus was still there and jumped that Janus realized that yes. Yes they are. 

“You alright?” Logan asked, noticing the movement from Patton.

“Yeah just..didn’t notice you there...Remus.” Patton said.

Remus didn’t respond. Patton and Logan both looked at him as if waiting for him to say something before they could move on. 

He didn't; instead he kept his eyes down on his food. He had barely eaten anything. Come to think of it he left food on his plate last night as well. And the night before. Janus looked closer. He’s eyes would dart to the side on the ground by his feet before going back to poking at his food.

“Remus, are you all right?” Logan asked.

Remus didn’t seem to notice him. What was this? Payback for them not paying attention to him?

“Remus!” Remus snapped his head up.

“Wha?” 

Logan frowned, “Are you doing alright?” 

Everyone was staring at him. 

He smiled, “Of course! Just thinking about all the way to cook a-” He lied.

“Great! That’s really great that you’re doing alright.” Patton cut him off before he could get to whatever it was he was saying. 

“Of course I am!” Remus lied again. Everyone else was satisfied by this answer. Janus was not.

He wasn’t going to call him out on it right now. So he waited. Remus ate only two more small bites before leaving. No one else noticed him go. 

Janus frowned, How long had this been going on for? 

Remus decided to go check on him after everyone else had gone to bed. He got to Remus’s door and knocked. 

Remus opened the door and beamed, “Dee!” 

“How are you feeling Remus?” Janus asked.

“I’m fine!” Remus stated. It was a lie. And he believed it. Janus blinked. He believed that he was fine.

“Really?” Janus glanced past him towards the bed. “When was the last time you slept?” The bed was littered with trash.

“I was going to sleep soon.” Remus said avoiding the question. 

“Mmm. When was the last time you really ate?” Janus asked.

“When I was…” Remus slapped a hand over his mouth. 

Janus’s eyes narrowed. “What?”

Remus shook his head, “It’s nothing. I’m fine! Why not go see your new friends?” Just a hint of bitterness in his voice.

“I don’t believe you.” Janus said.

Remus froze, “Not my problem.” He said and tried to close the door.

Janus’s hand shot out and stopped him. “Just...stop.. And talk to me!” 

“There’s nothing to talk about!” Remus said his voice..off.

Janus saw something out of the corner of his head. He turned his head to look and it was gone. It looked like a person but...there was something wrong with its face. He whipped around so he was facing Remus again. 

Remus backed away from him and into his room. “You need to go!” He said.

“Not until you tell me what’s wrong!” Janus snapped. Remus flinched at his tone and shook his head. 

“No. Get out!” Remus snapped. Pointing. 

“Remus…” There was the figure again. It was right next to him. He jumped away and found it gone. 

Remus’s eyes widened, “Oh no...nononono! I can’t….You can’t stay here!”

“What’s going on?” Janus asked.

“You can see them! You shouldn’t have to see them!” Remus said gripping the sides of his head.

Janus jumped at what looked like a human skull started crying blood. He shut his eyes and took a breath. “What can I see?”

“My thoughts...I’m sorry! You need to go!” Remus said his voice was off and Janus swore he knew why but it didn’t make sense! Remus didn’t regress! If he did then that means he’s been hiding it!

“Oh god. You’ve been regressing alone.” Janus said. “How long?”

“You need to…”

“How long?” Janus snapped at him. 

Remus wilted, “I don’t know...years.”

Janus hugged him. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?” 

Remus shook his head. “I can’t protect you from them when I’m little.” Remus said.

“From..your thoughts?” Janus opened his eyes and was met with [CENSORED]. He felt like throwing up. Remus thought about this all the time? 

Protect them? Did that mean Remus was holding back? Everything he blurted out wasn’t even the worst of it?

Remus nodded, “I’m sorry..” He said crying. 

Janus gagged at another sight. He had no idea what to do.


	40. Hallucinations. Part two.

Janus did the only thing he could think of, he took Remus to Logan. He was almost impressed by the lack of response Logan gave to the images that popped up around them. 

“So he’s been hiding his regression this whole time?” Logan asked.

“He can’t control his thoughts in this state.” Janus said.

Remus was sitting in a chair watching them talk. He didn’t say anything, just kicked his feet slightly and messed with a fidget toy Logan gave him. He was very subdued in little space. More so than Janus would have expected (had he thought about the possibility before). 

“So we can’t be around him without experiencing the same Hallucinations that he does. Interesting.” Logan said his eyes glancing to the hanging man in the corner of the room before looking back towards Remus. 

Logan stepped closer to Remus, “How do you feel?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

“You shouldn’t have to deal with them too.” He whispered.

“Do you not like them?” Logan asked.

Remus shook his head, “No. I do! They’re my friends!” 

“Your friends?” Janus asked.

Remus got excited, “Yeah! They never leave me or tell me to shut up or anything! I like talking about them!...” He paused and continued in a quieter tone, “But I’m not supposed to talk about them. You don’t like that.”

Janus’s heart broke a little, “I didn’t know that.”

Remus shrugged. “It’s ok. I’m fine with it.” 

He was lying. Even like this he was lying to himself. 

“Do you want someone to watch you?” Logan asked. 

Remus’s eyes lit up before they shifted to something behind them. Then he shook his head. “I’m ok on my own. I’m used to it.” 

“You don’t have to be alone.” Logan said.

“But..” Remus’s eyes flickered again to something behind them. Something Janus was sure he didn’t want to see.

“Ignore them. Focus on me.” Logan said.

This was the wrong thing to say. “I can’t do that to them! It hurts!”

“What hurts?” Janus asked a sinking feeling in his stomach.

“Being ignored!” Remus yelled. 

There was a scream, it sounded like Patton. He must have gotten close enough to see the visions. Then Roman yelled. Remus winced and his facial expression shifted from vulnerable to bitter. 

The vision in the corner flickered out.

The door burst open. Roman pointed his sword at Remus. “I knew you were behind this!” Logan and Janus stepped between them.

“Are you alright?” Janus asked Remus. 

“Fine.” He lied.

Janus sighed. 

“We’ve got it under control.” Logan said.

“And I thought we could trust you.” Roman shot at Remus as he left.

Remus looked devastated before he sunk out. “Remus wait!” Janus cried. Logan turned as he vanished.

“You explain it to the others.” Logan said, “I’ll go after him. I doubt he’ll be able to hold off his regression for long.” 

Janus nodded and headed off to give Roman a piece of his mind. 

Logan found Remus in his closet. The visions flickering in and out as he fought his head space.

“Remus?” 

Remus had his head tucked into his arms. “Go away.”

“I’m not going to do that. I’m afraid we’ve been hurting you and I plan to fix that.” Logan said.

Remus looked up at him. “I’m ok.” 

“You aren’t.” Logan said. “I don’t need to be Janus to see through that lie.”

“But..I’m not lying.” Remus said, confused. 

“I think you’re lying to yourself about how you feel.” Logan said sitting down in front of the Duke.

“How’d you know?” Remus asked.

“I’ve been known to...block out emotions from time to time. I understand what you’re going through.” He said putting a hand on Remus’s shoulder.

Remus teared up and hugged him. 

“I’m so alone! And I can’t help it!” He cried.

“It’s alright. We’ll figure something out. I promise. You won’t be ignored anymore.” Logan said.

\---

Logan took care of Remus when he was little, the others couldn’t focus with the images while Logan logiced his way out of any fear they gave him. Remus was thrilled about this. 

He had a real friend now! One that wasn’t just a thought in his head! It was so nice! Logan would listen to him talk about his vision friends and ask questions about them too!

And when he was bigger the others were nicer about him talking about the visions. They even thanked him for trying too hard to hide them all this time.

The best thing happened, he wasn’t ignored. He wasn’t pushed to the side or forgotten. 

He found his place.


	41. I didn't mean it part two.

Roman started avoiding the others. He was subtle about it at first, but soon he was never around. A couple weeks went by before he spent the whole day in his room. Not answering it for anyone that knocked. 

He didn’t want to avoid them! They just would not stop with their pity and apologies. He just wanted everyone to forget about his slip up and move on! He wasn’t going to crack like an egg over a couple jokes anymore!

…

Then why was he hiding? 

He stayed in his room the next day. And the day after that. And the day after that. 

Another week passed before he decided enough was enough and left his room. “Good to see you’re still alive.” Virgil said dryly. 

“Nice to see you’re the same as always.” Roman shot back. 

Virgil smiled. “Good to have you back.”

Roman nodded and moved on. He ran into Patton next. Who hugged him and asked if he was hungry. He was since he had run out of crackers a couple days before. A large reason for him leaving his room. 

Next was Logan who said nothing about his absence and Roman was grateful for it. He merely moved on to discussing the idea that Roman had given him as this all started.

He saw Remus who had heard what had happened but didn’t do more than tease him for falling apart over it. Roman rolled his eyes and sarcastically thanked him.

Last of all was Janus who didn’t say anything he just nodded. Roman relaxed. Everything was fine….Everything was fine! 

Everything was fine!

He starred in the mirror. What was wrong with him? This was what he wanted! Why was he getting so upset about it? What did he want? Them to cry over his self imposed isolation? Was he really that selfish? 

He punched the mirror and it shattered. Shards cut his knuckles and he stared at his bloody fist in shock. Then he dropped.

He cried as he hugged his hand to his chest. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!!

“Hey? Is everything ok in there?” Someone asked.

“Fine.” He called back and his voice broke. 

There was a heavy sigh. “I’m coming in.” Janus said.

“Wait no!” Roman didn’t get to the door in time before Janus opened it. He looked at the broken mirror and Roman’s bleeding hand. He frowned, “Why did you punch your mirror?”

“I...I don’t know.” Roman said.

Janus raised an eyebrow. “I don’t! I just..I feel bad and I don’t know why!” That much was true.

Janus waved his hand and the mirror was fixed. He waited for Roman to fix his hand. He didn’t. “Do you plan on bleeding on the carpet?”

Roman trembled a bit, “I..I can’t...I.” He shook his head.

Ah. He regressed. An older age than normal but still young enough to forget simple things. “Oh. I see.” He shifted awkwardly. “Would you like me to go get Patton?”

Roman shrugged and looked away. Janus reached off and gently grabbed Roman’s injured hand. He ran his thumb across the cuts healing them. “Thanks.” Roman muttered.

“Of course.” Janus said. “I care about your well being.”

Roman burst out crying. He hugged Janus.

“What’s going on in here?” Virgil asked.

“He’s regressed and is feeling a bit bad.” Janus said. 

“That sucks.” Virgil said walking over and patting Roman’s back. “A movie help?”

Roman nodded. It might not be the best thing to just distract him from the problem but he couldn’t talk about it at the moment anyway.

So he cuddled up with them and watched a movie. The feeling still nagging at him that something was wrong. 

It wasn’t until he was bigger than he figured it out. 

They liked him better when he was little, he was quieter. Didn’t jump around as much. Did what anyone asked him too.

He was more compliant. 

Well bigger him could do all that too! 

He got a lot of questions from the others about if he was feeling little. To which he always answered no and confused them. He was being quiet, still, and listened more than he spoke. 

He was better! He was like how they wanted him to be right? They should like him better like this right? WHY DIDN’T THEY LIKE HIM BETTER?

“Enough!” Janus yelled in the middle of dinner. Everyone looked up at him. No one had been saying anything.

He pointed at Roman. “You need to stop this self pity spiral you’ve got yourself stuck in!”

Roman looked at him.

“Do you really think I don’t know you’re lying to yourself?” Janus asked.

Roman raised an eyebrow and waited.

Janus slammed a hand on the table, “Say something!” 

Roman scowled, “What do you want me to say?” 

“You could start with why you’re so quiet all the time.” Virgil said.

Roman looked at him, “I thought you didn’t like me talking?” He leaned back and crossed his arms.

“Yeah, but you like talking!” Virgil said.

“Your behavior shouldn’t change because of us.” Logan said.

“You’re kidding right?” Roman asked, “You seriously haven’t thought at least once that I was acting better in the last couple days?”

“But that’s just it! You’re acting! You aren’t being honest with yourself or with us!” Patton said.

“What do you want from me!?” He demanded.

“We don’t want you to beat yourself up over who you are!” Janus shot at him.

“Why not? You want to do it for me?” Roman asked.

There was a beat of silence. “Roman…”

“What?” Roman said.

No one spoke. Roman stood. “What do you want from me? Be honest...please.”

“Just...be yourself Kiddo.” 

“Ditto.” 

“I agreed.” 

He looked at Janus. Janus nodded, “It’s true.” 

He sighed. “Why can’t I believe you?”


	42. Bubbles!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Honestly can't I just have one fluff one shot that is just cute and not angsty in some way? In any case, Logan likes bubbles.

Logan loved bubbles. The way they floated through the air and the shine of a rainbow in their thin soap surface. Catching them, blowing them, watching them. He had a small bottle of bubble soap and a wand hidden away in the back of his drawer. 

Something he pulled out when he needed to relax and just focus on something else from the thoughts and the feelings that he swore he didn’t feel. The pain and loneliness that was slowly crushing him. The bubbles made him feel light, weightless for just a little bit.

So when he got back from another long pointless debate where he’s options were brushed aside, he locked the door and pulled out the bubbles. He said cross legged on the floor and unscrewed the bubbles. 

He dipped the wand in, held it to his lips and exhaled. Bubbles drifted up into the air. He repeated this process a few times until bubbles filled the space above him. 

He giggled a little as he slipped into a younger headspace. He didn’t know what it was called when he was like this but it relaxed him and he was more than happy to let himself feel like this if it meant not feeling awful all the time.

There was a knock at the door. Logan jumped. He shoved the bubble stuff under his bed and stood up waving away the bubbles. He opened the door. There stood Virgil who was awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

“Is there something you need?” Logan asked.

“Patton sent me to get you...He wants to have a family meeting.” Virgil said.

“Well then if it’s for family I don’t see why I would be invited.” Logan said stiffly.

Virgil looked at him. “You’re kidding right?”

“Of course not. Now I’m busy and need to get back to work.” Logan said shutting the door on a shocked and confused Virgil.

He just managed to get relaxed again when there was another knock at the door. He rolled his eyes and waved away all his process...again. 

“Yes?” He asked sharply. Patton blinked at the hostility.

“Virgil told me you don’t think you’re part of the family.” Patton said.

“Of course I’m not. Family requires affection and support. Neither are things I have experienced from any of you recently. I thought you were being rather clear in your exclusion from the group.” Logan said.

Patton’s face fell. “Logan We didn’t mean to make you feel-”

“I don’t feel.” He lied firmly. “I was merely stating my observations.” 

“Logan please...Let’s just go down stairs and talk about it.” Patton said.

Logan shook his head and closed the door. 

He had barely managed to grab the bubbles again when there was a pounding on the door. He growled and ripped the door open. Bubble bottle still in his hand. “What!” He snapped at Roman.

Roman didn’t say anything he just grabbed Logan’s arm and dragged him along downstairs. 

Virgil and Patton were there, as were Remus and Janus. They were all settled into spots around the living room. They looked at him as Roman let go of his arm and then crossed his. 

No one said anything. Logan raised an eyebrow. “Well?”

“Why do you have bubbles?” Remus asked. Logan blinked and he had forgotten he was still holding them. 

“None of your business. Can we get to the bottom of this so I can get back work?” Logan asked.

“You weren’t working.” Janus said.

“What do you want?” Logan asked.

“We want to apologize. We didn’t mean to make you feel...excluded.” Patton said. “We never meant to hurt you.” 

“You didn’t. Apology is unnecessary. Can I leave now?” Logan said sharply.

Janus snorted, “You know that I’m here right?”

“Surprisingly I had noticed that.” Logan grit out. Snapping out of his head space too early was always unpleasant. 

“So I can tell that you’re lying.”

“Fine I’m upset that none of you ever listened to me! I’m tired of being pushed to the side and my options to be discarded! I am also tired of you trying to drag me out of my room when I just want to be left alone!” He snapped. He looked Janus dead in the eye and ignored everyone else's mixed reactions to his words. “Happy?”

Janus clapped. “Close but you’re still lying.” 

Logan took a breath. “Where is the lie?”

“I just want to be left alone.” Janus said mimicking Logan’s voice. “You don’t really want to be alone do you?” 

“Of..Of course I do.” Logan said.

“It’s ok to want company.” Patton said.

“You’re always welcome to join us when we-” Roman started.

“Am I? Do you all really want me around? Or is this just to relieve you of your own guilt!” He said. With that he stormed off. 

He slammed his door shut and locked it. He slammed the bubble bottle on his deck. He wasn’t going to be able to relax now. He was too worked up. 

That didn’t stop his head space though. He dropped and was crying in seconds. Tears poured down his face and stumbled over to his bed and curled up under his blankets. He felt awful and he just wanted a hug.

But he couldn’t ask for one. He had yelled at them! They didn’t like him...not really. 

Someone’s hand started stroking his hair. He froze. 

“You’ve got to stop lying to yourself. You’ll only get more hurt.” Janus said softly.

Logan sobbed. He peeked out at Janus. “Would you like a hug?”

Logan nodded. Janus pulled him into one. “It’s ok. We do care about you. We just don’t show it well enough.” 

“Hurts.” Logan said, clutching his chest.

“I know...We’ll fix it. I promise.” Janus said. He stayed there holding Logan for awhile until the crying stopped. Then he pulled back. “Is there anything you want to do now?”

Logan hesitated. Janus spoke up, “I don’t care if it seems silly.”

“Bubbles.” Logan said, looking at the bottle on the desk.

Janus smiled, “I think we can handle that.” 

The two sat on the floor blowing bubbles. Logan felt a lot better as he watched them float around. Janus didn’t seem to mind when he would giggle or pop a bubble but clapped his hands on it. He seemed pleased that Logan was feeling better.


	43. I didn’t mean part three.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is mostly fluff to make up for all the angst. Next one is just going to be tooth rotting cuteness. Promise!

Roman was happily telling Patton about all the items in the kitchen as he was cooking. He pointed at the frying pan, “That’s Steve and he’s really strong. He likes tulips!”

“Oh?” Patton said half paying attention to Roman and half to the eggs in the pan. 

“Yeah! And this is Sally! She's really nice!” Patton glanced back to see Roman talking to a whisk. He hid his laughter behind a cough. It was rare for Roman to be this talkative in little space so he was probably only half in it. Patton hoped he would come out of it soon so they could talk but he wasn’t going to rush him. 

He needed this right now.

“I see.” Patton said he reached over and ruffled the little’s hair. “Why don’t you go set the table?”

“Mkay!” 

There was the gentle clinking of forks as he set those out. Then the less gentle sound of plates being set down.

“Gently!” Patton reminded him without turning around.

“Ok.” Roman answered. He felt weird all of a sudden. 

He paused and frowned. He shook his head. He was really dizzy. He blinked and looked around. When did he come into the kitchen?

He looked down and saw that he was in his onesie. He had regressed. He heard Patton behind him. He tensed. He hadn’t talked to any of them since dinner and he didn’t want to now!

An idea popped into his head, if he was regressed they weren’t going to talk about it. Was it cowardly to hide behind his regression? Probably. Was he ready to face this now? NO!

He focused and managed to get in that blurry half space between regressed and not. So he was smaller, but also knew what was going on more.

“Good job kiddo!” Patton praised him for...something. 

He’s smile came a half second late. Patton didn’t notice. “Can you go get the others?”   
Roman’s stomach dropped. “K.” He said subdue as he walked off slower than normal for being regressed. Patton did notice that. 

He knocked on Virgil’s door first. “Breakfast!” He said. 

Virgil opened the door. Took one look at Roman and nodded to himself. “Hey kid!” 

Roman waved. Trying to force himself smaller. It worked somewhat. “I hear breakfast?” 

Roman nodded. 

“Want some help getting the others?” Virgil asked. 

Roman nodded again. Virgil held out his hand and Roman hesitated before taking it. Something that Virgil noticed as he had a split second of panic that he made the wrong move. 

Virgil seemed to be thinking too long as Roman pulled him along to get the others. One by one everyone was informed. Roman let Virgil do the talking. Janus had looked at him weird but didn’t say anything.

They sat down for breakfast and Roman was solidly in little space again. He ate eggs and toast happily, knocked over his juice after Patton tried to give him a cup without a lid due to his earlier older age. He cleaned up the mess and got him a sippy cup.

“What do you want to do now?” Patton asked.

Roman looked around, everyone was looking at him. He shrugged and looked down. Tapped his lips. “Want your paci?” 

He nodded.

“And cuddles?” He nodded a lot at that making Patton laugh. “Alright. Who do you want to cuddle with?”

Roman looked around. Hesitant to ask anyone. Patton patted his head, “You think about it. I’ll get your Paci.” 

Roman hummed as he looked around. Virgil and Logan both assured him that they were willing. Roman looked at Janus before pointing to him. Janus blinked in surprise. 

“Me?” Janus pointed to himself in shock. 

Roman nodded as Patton walked in with his paci. He handed it to Roman who popped it in his mouth and hummed again. 

He crawled onto the couch and waited for Janus. Janus looked at him awkward, “Are you sure you don’t want Patton?”

Roman’s face fell at the slight rejection. Janus back tracked. “Not that I’m not willing! Just you don’t normally like me that much and-”

“Go cuddle him before he starts crying!” Virgil said.

Janus sat down on the couch a little away from Roman who huffed and just climbed into his lap. He tugged a blanket after him and curled up against Janus’s chest.

Janus slowly put his arms around him. Roman hummed and closed his eyes. Janus’s heart melted a little. He tightened his grip a little.

“You’re stuck there for a while.” Logan warned, “Can I get you anything?”

Janus thought about it, “I’ll be fine. Thank you.”

Logan nodded and everyone drifted off to do their own thing. Secure that Roman was being taken care of. 

Roman drifted in and out of little space as he cuddled against Janus, content to just being held. 

He guessed they really did love him. He sighed content and snuggled closer. Janus tightened the blanket around him and gave him a small squeeze. 

Roman would be ready for that talk later. Was ready to believe that yes, they did love him. But for now. He just let himself be himself and be held.


	44. Bed time stories.

Virgil wanted a bedtime story. Logan and Patton were busy. So Roman decided to take it upon himself to read a bedtime story for him. Only one problem with this.

Roman is little too and He can’t read. 

So that’s how he ended up sitting next to a tucked in Virgil holding the book so both of them could see it and make up the story based on the pictures.

“-and then the frog ate the firefly.” 

“No!” Virgil gasped.

“But...um...The firefly…” Roman turned the page. “Was fine! And he...liked being in the frog!”

“Gross.” Virgil giggled.

Roman beamed. He was doing a good job! “But he could live there so...he escaped!” 

“How?” Virgil asked.

There wasn’t a picture for that. It just showed the firefly on a flower. “Uumm. He tickled the frog until he laughed him out!” He tickled Virgil who giggled.

“Then?” Virgil asked.

He looked at the last page. “He found a home on a sunflower and lived happily ever after!” 

“The end!” Virgil said, helping to close the book. 

“There! Think you can sleep now?” Roman asked.

“Mmm. Stay?” He asked.

Roman smiled. “Ok!” 

He laid down next to Virgil, unaware that Patton had showed up halfway through the story and was filming. 

“Gross!” Virgil giggled on film. 

Roman groaned and let his head drop to the table top. 

Virgil laughed, “You really had no idea what that story was about did you?” He teased.

“Neither did you!” Roman shot back a small smile on his face. 

“I think you did a great job.” Logan said. 

“Yeah!” Patton agreed. He looked back at his phone, “Aaaaw! Look!” 

He showed the phone to Logan, the screen showing the two curled up together asleep.

“That is objectively adorable.” He stated.

Virgil groaned this time. Roman smirked. 

“Adorable.” He poked Virgil’s shoulder.

“Shut up!” Virgil groaned again.

Roman laughed. “Ok.” 

That was the first time that Roman made up a bedtime story for Virgil but it wasn’t the last. It ended up happening when Virgil was regressed at bedtime. Virgil would ask for Roman’s stories whether Roman was regressed too or not.

On the nights Roman wasn’t regressed his stories made a lot more sense. On the nights he was he would often ask Patton or Logan to help tell the story. 

Virgil would add suggestions or blurt out how the story went next. It always had a happy ending. Always. That was the rule.

More often than not Virgil would want one of them to stay, so much that they started keeping an air mattress in there instead of staying in his bed every time. He hung his hand off the bed to hold their hand as he slept.


	45. Playing little.

Janus was quickly picking up a pattern. When he was little the others actively interacted with him, smiled at him and seemed to enjoy his company. When he was big his options and suggestions were ignored. 

When he was small Virgil played with him, read bedtime stories and tucked him in. When he was big, he was hissed at or insulted.

When he was small Logan would hold him and tell him facts about anything and everything he asked. When he was big he was given stiff borderline hostile treatment.

When he was small Roman took him on adventures and would call him a little hero and would give him prizes for winning games they made up. When he was big it was scoffing at his words and mocking him. 

When he was little Patton hugged him and told him silly jokes and let him help bake. When he was big it was awkward and tense. 

When he was little Remus would act like nothing happened and would take care of him and let him stick around. When he was big…

Janus was so lonely. So when he got the idea to try and force his regression so that someone would pay attention to him in a friendly way….Could anyone blame him?

So he did everything that normally triggered it, reminded himself of harsh words or actions from the others. Just how stressed he was. How he couldn’t seem to win.

Patton found him in the living room crying curled up. Instantly concerned. “Janus? What’s wrong?”

“Alone.” He muttered.

“Oh. Why didn’t you come get me?” Patton asked, hugging him.

“Didn’t know where.” He said. 

“That’s why you look silly.” Patton booped his nose. Janus giggled. This was nice. He could feel himself slip further into little space. It was safe here, here he got love. He never wanted to leave.

His regression bleed over into the next day and Logan mentioned that it was rare for Janus to stay regressed so long and to be regressed when he woke up.

Janus almost shifted guilty at that. He had triggered himself into Little space almost as soon as he woke up. He heard Patton coming up the stairs and yesterday had been so nice and he knew he couldn’t handle another day of their scorn. 

“How are you feeling Janus?” Logan asked.

Janus shrugged, “I dunno.” 

Logan frowned. “Did something happen to make you regress this long?” 

Janus shrugged again. He looked down. He felt bad now. He could feel his head space start to slip and put his thumb in his mouth. The feeling soothing him and pulling him under again.

Patton and Logan glanced at each other before Logan summoned a pacifier and Patton took Janus’s thumb out of his mouth. Janus had never needed a pacifier before that they had seen. Logan popped the paci in Janus’s mouth and he hummed.

Patton and Logan looked at each other again concerned. Had something happened that forced him to regress like this? “We’ll just watch him for now.” Logan promised.

Roman tried to play with him but it quickly became clear that he was too young. Virgil tried watching him but the stress of watching a younger Janus than normal when something was clearly wrong got to him. 

Logan decided to take it upon himself and watch him. Patton talked to Remus to see if Janus ever regressed this young before. To which he answered once and got mad before closing the door in Patton’s face.

“Can you still talk?” Logan asked.

Janus just stared at him. Logan frowned. He summoned a set of keys and jingled them in front of Janus’s face.

The baby laughed and clapped. He had shifted to a child about the size of a six month old. He could sit up on his own but that was about it. 

Logan had to put him in a diaper and onesie for infants. He watched as Janus grabbed for the keys and fell over. He rolled on to his back. Kicking his feet. 

Logan waited for him to sit back up. He didn’t. Logan reached down and picked him up. Janus babbled meaninglessly in his arms. 

“Come on. What is going on with you?”

The door opened and Remus stormed in. “Give me that.” He grabbed Janus from him. “I don’t know how you messed it up this badly!” 

“What are you talking about?” Logan demanded as Janus whimpered and started crying.

“Oh shush!” Remus snapped at him. 

“Remus!” Logan said, reaching for Janus. Remus stepped back out of his reach. 

“He’s tried to force his regression.” Remus said.

Logan froze. “Why would he do that?”

“We can ask him when we snap him out of it.” Remus said sharply. He was seething. Angry that his friend was in pain and didn’t come to him for help. For anyone for help. He just hid from it.

“Well how do we do that?” Logan asked.

“Easy.” Remus walked off and put Janus down on his bed before walking out and closing the door not letting Logan in. “We leave him alone.”

Logan’s eyes widened. “You can’t do that! He isn’t in any state to take care of himself!”

Remus rolled his eyes, “What is Janus?” 

“Self preservation.” Logan said.

“Well he’ll either do his job or we’ll go in a few hours and try something else.”

\---

Janus woke up alone and confused. He groaned, his head hurt. 

“Morning. Took you long enough.” someone turned on a light and he hissed.

Janus looked up. “Remus?”

“Yep.” Remus said. “I drew the short straw so I’m allowed to yell at you first.” 

Janus sighed heavy. He looked so...done… “Alright. Get it over with.”

Remus frowned, “Why did you do that again? You know it’s dangerous!”

Janus flinched before steeling himself. “Why do you care? Don’t you hate me now or something?”

Remus took a breath through his teeth, “I don’t hate you. Why would I hate you? You’re my best friend!”

“Well you have a weird way of showing it!” Janus yelled. He threw his pillow at Remus. 

“What are you talking about?” Remus asked.

“You’ve been pissed at me for weeks!” Janus snapped.

“Yeah You’ve been avoiding me for weeks!” Remus said.

“No I haven’t!” 

“Right. You never showing up is just you being busy!”

“I was! Surprise Remus I have a life outside of you!” 

“And how’s it treating you if you're forcing your regression that far? Making the others take care of you!” Remus said.

“I’m not...They don’t have to take care of me!” Janus said. “They choose too!”

“I doubt they will anymore. Not after this stunt! How will they trust you?” Remus said verbally stabbing him in his weak spot.

Janus was shaking. “Get out.”   
Remus slammed the door on his way out. 

Janus got a talking to from all of the others, about how that was reckless and he broke their trust. 

He knew without asking they weren’t going to take care of him any more. He ruined the only good thing he had left because he was selfish and pushed it. 

Janus stopped talking. It took a week for the others to notice due to being mad at him. And another week to notice that he hadn’t shown up to anyone regressed.

“Do you think he’s forcing himself to not regress?” Patton asked.

“That’s just as dumb as forcing his regression for too long!” Roman stated.

“He’s not talking either.” Virgil said, “Do you think something else is wrong?”

“I’ll talk to him.” Logan promised.

He knocked on Janus’s door and it opened. Janus sat in the corner reading. He glanced up and put his book aside.

He didn’t say anything, he just waited.

So Logan cut to the chase. “Have you regressed since...that time?” 

Janus shook his head. Logan frowned, “Why aren’t you talking?”

“You seem to prefer me that way.” Janus said softly.

Logan expected him to say he didn’t have anything to say. That he was upset. Not this. This was something...heartbreaking.

“Do you think we prefer you regressed?” He asked putting the pieces together.

“Don’t you?” Janus asked in the same soft tone. 

Logan paused...The truth was that they did prefer Regressed Janus. They were only concerned that he wasn’t regressing. Didn’t seem to want to be around them anymore.

“Perhaps the correct question is, did you? I burnt that bridge didn’t I? I was lonely and I pushed it too far.” Janus admitted.

“Now..what? You think we aren’t going to take care of you when you're regressed?” Logan asked.

“Oh can you honestly tell me there won’t be a seed of doubt that I was faking it in the back of your head?” Janus asked, his tone hardening slightly.

Logan can’t. Not for a long time. “You broke our trust. You’ll have to earn it back.” 

“Right.” Janus said flatly.

There was a stretch of silence. 

“I should go.” Logan said at last.

“Yes.” Janus said. “Do.”

Logan closed the door gently and could swear he heard crying as he did so. Janus did regress, but he handled it alone that time. 

And the next.

And the next.

A mouth passed, he continued his silence and hidden regression. The others paid more attention to him. Mostly asking if he needed help to regress. 

They missed little him. He thought bitterly. 

“And you haven’t regressed at all?” Roman asked hopeful, he missed his play buddy. 

Janus sighed, “No.” He lied aloud. 

Roman blinked, surprised that Janus spoke. “But...that’s not healthy!”

“Why do you care what’s healthy or not for me?” Janus demanded.

“Because I care about you!” Roman said.

“Little me. Big me you couldn’t give a damn about!” Janus snapped.

“Not true!” Roma lied.

Janus didn’t respond; he turned to walk away. The stress was getting to him. Roman blocked his exit. “No. I just got you talking again!” 

“Roman please!” Janus said, his voice slipping a little.

Roman shook his head. Tears appeared in Janus’s eyes. He stomped his foot and growled, “Why are you so mean? Why do you hate me?”

Roman froze, “I don’t hate you Little hero.” He said, trying to comfort him.

“No! You just like me to play with! I’m not a toy!” He shoved at Roman. Roman didn’t budge. He was shocked by the outburst. Little Janus was normally an angel. 

Janus was openingly crying at this point. This drew the others into the room. “What happened?” Virgil asked.

“It appears Janus has finally regressed again.” Logan stated.

“Ah..Little help?” Roman asked. 

Janus was still crying, Patton stepped closer to hug him. He backed away from him, tripped on his own feet and fell to the ground. He wailed. 

Remus showed up at that. He took one look at Janus and knelt down to help him. Janus batted his hands away. “No no no no! Hate me! Don’t wanna play!”

They all looked at each at a loss. “We don’t hate you.” Patton said.

“Don’t lie!” Janus yelled. 

“We don’t!” Roman said, panicked. 

Janus paused in his wailing. He whimpered and tucked his knees to his chest and hid his face against them hat falling off. 

Remus pulled him into his lap. Janus struggled. But soon he was holding on to Remus for dear life sobbing his heart out. “I no want alone.”

“You don’t have to be alone. We’re here for you.” Virgil said.

“Even when you aren’t little.” Logan said. 

“Really?...but..you so mean.” Janus said.

Several winces. “We’ll try and be nicer to all of you. It isn’t fair of us to pick and choose what parts of you to love.” 

“We’re sorry we’ve treated you like this.” Patton said.

“For now.” Janus grumbled.

“It’ll take time for you to trust us.” Logan said.

“But we’re up for the challenge.” Roman said. 

“Promise?” Janus whispered. Everyone did. 

He felt better. Not all the way. That would come with time. But for now. 

He sighed content to let them take care of him in a way that he missed. 

That care bleeds over into his big space. Virgil was nicer, Patton still joked with him, Logan answered his questions and even spoke about morals with him, Roman spoke about his ideas and even went so far as to ask for acting tips. Remus was there for him.

They all were. He was happy.


	46. Twins and sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I had terrible writer's block and this was all I could do today. :p

Roman was lonely. So very very lonely. He pushed everyone away and was left alone. He put up walls of bravado and confidence and made insulting jokes. He was too sure that if anyone got close they would just hurt him. So he put up walls and fell asleep at his deck and was always confused when he woke up in bed.

Remus was loud and violent and sexual and...alone. But he wasn’t lonely right? Haha that’s crazy! Crazier then he is! He didn’t need anyone! He didn’t need love, or affection or….company. A hug. Someone to tuck him in at night. That’s for other people. Not him. So why would he wake up in bed tucked in with a night light so his own thoughts didn’t scare him?

Both of them woke up in the middle of the night regressed. Roman snuck out of his room to get a snack and ran into Remus. They stared at each as Remus held a large box of goldfish crackers. 

“Want some?” He offered.

\---

No one should be awake. But two people were….well three if you counted Remy but he was sleep so that was normal. No, he was drawn to the hushed whispering from Roman’s room. 

He opened the door and saw Remus and Roman in a pillow fort. They froze and stared at him. He crossed his arms, “Room for one more?”

They looked at each other before grinning. “Yeah!” Roman said.

Remy crawled into the fort. “Nice. Very gucci.”

He noticed the box of goldfish that’s top had been sawed off. Most of the fish were gone. He grabbed a couple and popped them into his mouth, “So...why are you two still awake?”

They looked at each other, “I was hungry..” Roman said.

Remus nodded. He was dropping into more non verbal as he did when Regressing deep enough. 

“Well you shouldn’t be anymore. You’ve eaten most of a box.” Remy said in his caregiver voice, picking up on their regression. 

Did any of the others know? No. Did any of the others regress and Let Remy take care of them? Well that’s between Remy and them. 

“So bedtime?” The twins looked at each other. Remus gave the smallest shake of his head.

“No. It’s fine.” Roman said.

Remy raised an eyebrow. “It’s well past midnight. I wouldn’t call that fine.”

Roman shifted uncomfortable. “What about nightmares?” 

Remy’s expression softened. “Well. You can sleep in your pillow fort. It’ll protect you from the nightmares. I will too.” 

“Really?” Remus asked.

Remy nodded, “Of course. Nothing gets past him.”

It took a bit to get them comfortable. Tucked in with their stuffies and close enough that they could reach each other without being on top of each other. Remy smiled as their eye drooped and they gently drifted off to sleep again.

Remy stayed in the fort scrolling through his phone, brushing aside bad dreams from entering the twins minds. 

In the morning Remus was calmer than he normally was. Roman had no insults on the tip of his tongue. 

After a couple of sleepless nights Roman approached Remy. “Could you..watch us again?” He asked.

Remy smiled, “I’ll have to check my schedule babes.” He joked.

It quickly became a weekly event. Remus and Roman would make a pillow fort and make snacks. Remy would show up and make sure they were comfortable before they fell asleep with him there so keep away the bad dreams.

Roman slowly broke down his walls, Remus let himself enjoy the company. In and out of his little head space. 

And Remy had a full week of rotating between watching over the regressors and making sure they all slept well at least once a week. With a couple days off for himself of course. (Gotta love that self care.)


	47. Not a dad right now.

When anyone Regressed they went to Patton. Made sense right? He’s the dad! He’s there to take care of them! It’s his job! One that is so very very tiring….

Not that he doesn't love it! Or them! He does! It’s just...well… No one is ever there for him when he regresses. The couple times he regressed in front of them they got upset about him being little too. 

Dad’s can’t be little! He forgot who said that. But he stayed in his room anytime he regressed after that.

That was fine…. Really!

He also only regressed at night. After everyone else was in bed. Having tucked in whoever needed it. He gets in his onesie and gets out his little gear, coloring, a few toys, a couple story books and his sippy cup. He really really wants a paci but..

He shook his head. This was enough. After all...He shouldn’t be doing this! It was wrong!

Patton felt guilt overwhelm him as he sat on the floor hugging his stuffed dog to his chest. He glanced at the clock, it was almost midnight. He didn’t want to sleep, he wanted to cry!

So he did. He started crying. 

His door opened. “Ok! Why are you never asleep…” Remy paused at the sight of Patton crying on the floor. He knelt down next to him. “Hey. It’s ok little one.”

Patton shook his head, “I’m bad! Bad to be small!” 

“Who told you that?” Remy asked.

Patton had a feeling it was Roman or Logan. But he didn’t remember. “Just am!”

Remy pulled Patton into his lap and rocked him back and forth gently. “You aren’t bad for being small. It’s just how you are.”

“But..I’m the dad!” Patton protested.

“You can be a kiddo too.” Remy said softly. 

Patton sighed and laid his head against Remy’s shoulder, his eyes starting to droop. Remy started humming and Patton was asleep in seconds.

He woke up tucked in bed. He looked around half asleep. Why was he awake? He saw that his dog had fallen off the bed. He leaned over and picked it up again before snuggling back into bed.

In the morning he felt great having slept better then he had in weeks! He almost skipped to his door, he was about to open it before he paused. Someone was yelling on the other side.

“..So which one of you made him feel bad about it?” Remy asked.

There was a pause. “I..may have said something about it.” Roman admitted. 

“Hmm. Well you are going to do your damn best to make him feel better otherwise there are going to be a lot of sleepless nights in your future!” Remy threatened.

Patton opened the door, “Ok. Remy stop!” 

“Pat-”

“No. It’s ok!” Patton said.

“You were crying.” Remy crossed his arms. 

“You were?” Roman asked. 

“It’s fine!” Patton insisted. “Besides you don’t have to help me if it makes you uncomfortable! I’d never force you to be there!” Virgil and Logan looked at each other. Roman looked at him in horror. Remy just about face palmed.

“But you should have some one there!” Virgil agured. 

Patton shifted, “I’m fine-”

“Say it one more time. I dare you.” Janus said appearing in the hallway. 

“What? I am! I can take care of myself!” Patton said sinking a little into little space. 

“Mhmm. Crying yourself to sleep is trying care of yourself in your book kiddo?” Remy asked.

Patton regressed the rest of the way at that name being used towards him. He burst out crying. 

“It’s ok.” Remy said, pulling him to his chest. Patton shook as he hid his face in Remy’s shirt. 

“Patton...I never meant to make you feel so horrible!” Roman said, “I’m so so sorry!”

“I apologize as well. I noticed your distress but left you to handle it on your own.” Logan said.

Remy scowled at him for that. 

“We’re here for you now.” Virgil said.

“Great timing.” Janus said dryly. 

“Shut up.” Virgil hissed at him.

Remy sighed. “Could you two not..for like..just a couple minutes? This isn’t about you mkay?”

Patton peeked out at them. “But...I’m dad.” 

“You don’t have to be all the time.” Logan said. “We should never have made you feel like that.”

Patton nodded. “Can I have woofer?” 

It was pretty easy to figure out what he meant by that. 

“I’ll get him.” Roman said egear to show his support after his mistake. 

He got the stuffed dog and brought it out. Patton beamed and hugged it. “Thank you.”

“Of course. I’m here for anything you need, Little one.” He said slightly awkwardly. He didn’t know how to take care of a little, but he saw Patton do it enough to pick up the basics. 

Remy watched them as they took Patton down stairs. Logan and Virgil got him hot chocolate and cookies. Roman set up a cartoon movie about cats. Patton snuggled up with a bunch of blankets on the couch courtesy of Janus. 

He smiled happily hugging Woofer.


	48. Quiet time part one.

“I didn’t realize how quiet things would feel without his incessant chatter.” Logan said from the living room. “It’s nice.” 

Roman stayed at the top of the stairs. He had been in his room most of the day. He wasn’t feeling great emotionally. Couldn’t keep up his mask of happiness. He was sure the other’s noticed his absence, he didn’t expect it to be...a positive one.

“Yeah. I can finally hear myself think.” Virgil added.

“Some quiet is good sometimes.” Patton agreed. 

Roman felt his heart break. Oh...Ok. He snuck back to his room and closed the door as quietly as possible. 

He sat down on his bed. Silence. It was a powerful thing. Crushing, suffocating, a void to be filled. An empty canvas to be painted on. It called to him to fill it. To sing, to talk, to do anything that gets rid of the creepy unsettling feeling that silence brought with it. 

He would never describe silence as nice, or good. Disturbing, eerie, wrong. Those all fit well. 

They liked the quiet. Preferred it to him. Insulting. He huffed to himself offended. He was much better than the silence….right?

He shook his head and began to pace. Of course he was! They were just being dramatic! He’d show them! A week without him and they wouldn’t be begging him to come back!

\---

Two days into it he regressed. He forgot about that when he decided to not talk to them. But they had to miss him by now right? Plus they always said to get one of them if he regressed. He had to follow the rules. 

So he snuck out of his room and was halfway down the stairs before Virgil saw him. 

“Oh great Princy’s back.” Virgil said. He didn’t look happy about it. Logan and Patton didn’t either. 

Roman opened his mouth to speak before snapping it shut and bolting back up the stairs. He slammed his door shut. 

Tears pricking at his eyes. He blinked them back. No! He was...he was fine! This was fine! He would just give it more time and...be alone right now.

He leaned back and slid down to the floor. He pulled his knees up to his chest. He had been alone before when he was small...It was fine!

He locked the door and decided that he would play by himself. No one else deserved to play with him if they were going to be mean! He didn’t play with meanies! They could keep their silence! He was going to make music!

He did! He sang for hours. He ignored the knocking at the door. If they were going to be mean they didn’t get to sing with him! He ignored the calls through the door from Patton. 

They liked silence. They were going to get silence.

The next morning he was still regressed; he went down to get breakfast. He saw Patton on the way and didn’t respond to his good morning. 

“Feeling small?” Patton asked, seeing him get his favorite star cereal. Roman didn’t look at him as he sat down with the bowl and started eating.

“Roman? Is something wrong?” Patton asked.

Roman didn’t respond. They wanted silence, they would get silence! 

“What’s up with him?” Virgil asked.

“I don’t know! He won’t talk to me!” Patton said.

“Is something wrong?” Logan asked.

“Roman’s being an ass and ignoring us.” Virgil said.

Roman winced at that. No! He wasn’t! They were mean first! Besides they wanted this! Right? Right?

Logan snapped next to Roman’s ear. He flinched away from it. “Well he still has his hearing.”  
“So why isn’t he speaking?” Virgil asked.

“Maybe he’s injured his throat from singing so much and is embarrassed.” Logan suggested.

Roman stood and walked out leaving half his cereal uneaten. Mean, mean, MEAN!

Patton caught him as he started up the stairs. “Wait! I’ll make you some tea! You don’t have to be embarrassed!” 

Roman ripped his arm from Patton’s grip. “You want quiet! So I quiet!” He yelled whispered. 

Patton looked at him confused before it dawned on him. “You heard that?” 

Roman glared at him. He put a finger to his lips and then ran up the stairs. Leaving behind a very stunned Patton.


	49. quiet time part two.

Roman was pacing in his room fuming. Why were they like this? First they wanted the quiet now they wanted him to talk? Mean! 

“I didn’t realize how quiet things would feel without his incessant chatter. It’s nice.”

Mean!

“Yeah. I can finally hear myself think.”

Mean!

“Some quiet is good sometimes.” 

Mean!

“Roman’s being an ass and ignoring us.”

Why so mean? He thought as he sat down tears running down his face. He shook his head. Stupid! He shouldn’t be upset about this! He couldn’t let something so small get to him!

The silence was deafening. It was ringing in his head, slowly the void was filled with their words. They like you quiet. No they don’t. Yes they do. No. Yes. No! YES!

“SHUT UP!” He yelled. 

You should shouldn’t you? Just shut up? A voice whispered to him. Just shut up.

“No..No!” Roman said out loud. Anything to fill the silence. Why did his voice sound so small? 

Shut up shut up shut up! It’s nice!

“No...I…” Roman was breathing quickly. “I shouldn’t have to..”

Shut up! 

“I didn’t realize how quiet things would feel without his incessant chatter. It’s nice.”

Shut up!

“Yeah. I can finally hear myself think.”

Shut up!

“Some quiet is good sometimes.” 

Shut up!

“Roman’s being an ass and ignoring us.”

SHUT! UP!

He punched the wall. He stood breathing heavily as he watched blood trickle out of his split knuckles. Blood soaking into the crack in the wall. He slowly pulled his fist back to his body. The pain breaking through the haze in his head.

He sat down on his bed cradling his injured hand to his chest. A small sob escaped his lips. He clamped his mouth shut. He was not going to cry over this! 

Knock at his door broke through his thoughts. It was Patton. “Are you ok?”

He didn’t say anything.

“Look I know that you're mad but it’s not a big deal!” He said.

Not a big deal??? 

Why should whatever they did that hurt him ever be a big deal…

“Are you still small?” Patton asked. 

Roman didn’t reply. “I’m coming in.” He said before trying to open the door. Roman felt a surge of satisfaction knowing that he couldn’t get in through the locked down. 

Then he felt a bit guilty he wasn’t supposed to lock the door when he was small….But was he small? He was and he wasn’t at the same time. It was confusing.   
He shook his head to clear it. He heard a soft metal clicking sound. 

“Almost got it.” Virgil said.

Of course Virgil would try to pick the lock! No respect for his privacy or anything! He shoved a chair under the door handle. AH! Good luck opening it now!

They tried to open the door and the chair stopped them. Perfect!

“Roman! Open up!” 

“What if he’s passed out?” 

“We just heard him move something in front of the door.” 

“Well how do we open it?” 

“Break it down!”

“Patton we aren’t going to break it down!...We’re going to remove the door handle and see what’s blocking the door.” 

“Oh for the love of..”Roman muttered under his breath. “COULD YOU JUST GO ENJOY THE QUIET AND LEAVE ME ALONE?” He yelled.

It was quiet so long on the other side of the door he thought that they had left. 

It would be best if they left. 

CRASH!

Remus peeked his head in the hole in his door. “Done pouting?” 

Roman shoved his head out. “Did you have to break my door?”

“Well you weren’t coming out.” Janus said.

Roman peeked out. The others were gone. “Did they get you?”

“No.” Janus said. Roman couldn’t tell if that was a lie or not. “So what’s wrong?”

Roman hesitated. He couldn’t lie to Janus. Literally. “They perfect the quiet over me. So I’m giving it to them.” 

“Self sacrifice. How quint.” Janus said drily.

“Awww. Do people not like what you have to say? That must suck!” Remus said.

Roman paused, “How do you deal with it?” 

Remus raised an eyebrow, “Oh I don’t care!”

“Really?” 

“Yeah. I do what I do anyway!” He shrugged. “I don’t need attention like you do.” 

Roman sputtered. “I don’t need attention!” 

They just looked at him. 

He didn’t...he just didn’t like the silence. 

Right?


	50. Jealous

Virgil was glaring at Janus. Janus was sitting next to Logan as Logan read the story. That was his spot! That was his caregiver! 

Logan had only taken care of Virgil up until they all found out that Janus regressed as well a couple weeks ago. Logan offered to take care of Janus too. Since Janus was younger than Virgil he got more attention. 

He was stealing Virgil’s Cg. Unforgivable! 

The story wasn’t over but Janus fell asleep. So Logan stopped reading. 

“But! Story!” Virgil said hugging his teddy bear. 

“Shh..Janus is sleeping.” Logan said.

Janus Janus Janus! Virgil hated him so much!

He huffed and crawled off to play in the corner. He was going to make sure Janus knew that Logan was his caregiver only!

\---

“Hey...can I talk to you?” Virgil asked.

“Yes?” Janus asked hesitantly. He picked up on Virgil’s distaste. 

“I just wanted to ask how long do you think Logan will be putting up with you?” He asked.

Janus blinked. “What?”

“I mean...He got tired of me pretty quickly after I started Regressing and I think it’ll happen again.” He said putting his hands in his pocket.

Janus looked off to the side. “No..that’s..”

“I mean..we get boring to him after a while.” He said bitterly. “Soon enough he’ll move on to something new.” He believed that. 

Janus paled. “So what? I’m just a...toy?”

Virgil shrugged. “Maybe. Who knows what we are to him.”

Janus looked distressed for a second before his features smoothed out. “I guess we’ll see how this plays out.”

Virgil nodded once. 

\---

Logan watched as Janus clung to Virgil and ignored him. They both did. He was confused by this sudden change but was glad that the two seemed to finally be getting along. 

He sat reading in case they needed anything but was pleased that they didn’t.

Janus looked up at him and waited a second before disappointment crashed over him. He wasn’t going to read outloud. He didn’t call him over for cuddles or anything! 

Virgil was right. He was getting tired of Janus. 

Virgil watched as Janus’s face crumpled and tears appeared in his eyes. IF he had been older he might have laughed. Now? He just felt guilty.

He hugged Janus. “It’s ok.”

“But..” He sobbed. 

Logan looked up. He was about to get up to handle it before Virgil spoke. “I’ve got you. Big brother is here.”

“Big brother?” 

Virgil nodded. “Yeah! It’ll be ok!” 

Janus looked up at him in amazement. “Ok!” 

For the rest of the day Janus followed Virgil like a lost puppy. Doing anything that his new big brother did! Something Logan was extremely proud of. 

Until Janus got bigger and talked about what Virgil said.   
“Virgil?” Logan asked from Virgil’s doorway. Virgil was laying across his bed and sat up when he saw Logan. “Can we talk?”

A pit formed in Virgil’s stomach. “Yeah?”

Logan walked in and sat on the bed a bit away from Virgil. Oh no.

“Do you really think that I replaced you with Janus?” Logan asked.

Virgil pulled his knees up to his chest, “Didn’t you?”

“Of course not!” Logan said. “You’re still my baby.” 

Virgil glared at him, “Well you have a bad way of showing it! You spend all your time with Janus now! And..and you never finish your stories! Or tuck me in! Or anything anymore!” 

Logan frowned, “Of course I still...oh…” He has gotten caught up making sure Janus felt accepted that he hadn’t given as much of his time to Virgil.

“I haven’t forgotten about you.” 

“Right.” Virgil said looking down. He picked at the edge of his sheet. 

Logan frowned. “How about this? I’ll get Patton to watch Janus next time and it’ll just be you and me..Ok?”

Virgil shifted and muttered something Logan couldn’t hear. “What?”

“But what about Baby brother?” 

Logan smiled. “He can stick around if you want him to.”

Virgil nodded. “I gotta be a good big brother.” 

“You’re an amazing big brother.” 

“Even if you are overly worried.” Janus said from the doorway.

“Janus! I...um..” 

“It’s alright.” Janus said lifting a hand. “It’s ok. I forgive you for making a simple mistake.”

“Still good big brother?” 

Janus nodded. “Still a good big brother.”

Virgil sighed. 

He guessed Janus wasn’t so bad.


	51. Regression and Repression.

Roman regressed and everyone loved him. Remus regressed and no one believed him that he did. 

He didn’t understand. Maybe the fuzzy feeling in his head wasn’t regression. Maybe there was something he was missing. 

He tried to explain it.

“You don’t regress!” Patton said firmly. “You just...think differently.”

“Age regression is a coping method, why would you need to cope?” Logan asked without looking at him.

“I thought you didn’t copy me.” Roman said.

“Tsk. You really are an attention hog.” Virgil said.

“I don’t have time for you right now Remus!” Janus snapped.

So he stopped trying to explain it. He just didn’t regress, he guessed. It had to be something else.

Maybe he was dying? Wouldn’t that be fun! Would they notice? Would they care? Probably not, he thought as he laid upside down on the top of the fridge. Not unless they had to move his corpse. 

“Remus could you get down?” Patton asked.

Remus shook his head, “Nope. This is where I die.” 

“You aren’t going to die.” Virgil said looking up from his spot at the table.

Remus stuck his tongue out at him. His head felt fuzzier than ever. He doubted he could think of a single disturbing thing to say. 

“Remus get down!” Janus snapped.

Remus dropped, both off the fridge and into the youngest Regression state he had ever been in. He landed on the floor and sat up. He looked at Janus glaring at him and started crying. Silently as he hugged himself. 

Everyone froze in shock. 

“Remus?” Patton tried to put a hand on his shoulder but Remus bolted off. He darted into the hallway closet and locked it. 

Janus got to the door first. “Open up!”

“No!” Remus yelled scared. 

“Remus!” 

Logan put a hand on Janus’s shoulder. “Janus. I think...he regressed.” 

“Remus doesn’t regress!” Virgil said standing up.

Logan tilted his head, “Doesn’t he?” He knocked on the door. “Remus can I come in.”

“You mean!” 

Logan gensured to the door, “Yes? Crying, childish language. Fear. I would say he regressed to...about...toddler level?” 

“I’m sorry I yelled.” Janus said.

The door unlocked. He peeked out, “No mad?”

“I’m not mad.” Janus said.

“But..I shouldn’t be...I’m not little Like Ro.” Remus said in a small voice.

“You are.” Patton said. “We just didn’t see it.” 

Remus shook his head and closed the door. He sat down in the dark and cried hugging himself. It was wrong! He was dying and they won’t care!

He didn’t want to die!

The door opened and Logan stepped in. He flicked on the light before closing the door behind him. He sat down next to Remus. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m gonna die and no one will care!” He wailed. 

“Why would you...No.” Logan said firmly. “We would care.”

“But...everyone is so mean!” Remus said.

Logan sighed, “We have been haven’t we?”

Remus nodded and sniffed. Logan opened his arms and Remus hugged him. 

“I don’t wanna be alone.” 

“You won’t be alone.” Logan said, rocking him gently. “Not anymore.” He looked towards the door. The others would expect this if they knew what was good for them.


	52. Birthday boy part one.

No one remembered his birthday. That was normal. He was used to that. Sure it was his and Roman’s birthday but no one ever remembered that. Still you think they would let him hang around to wish his brother a happy birthday. 

“I just think that you shouldn’t be here right now.” Patton said standing in the doorway blocking him from entering. 

“Why not?” Remus said stubbornly. 

“Roman doesn’t want you here.” Virgil said. 

Remus’s eyes flickered over to Roman who’s back was turned toward him. Janus glanced at him, met his eyes and then turned away.

Remus huffed. Fine! He didn’t need to be here! He turned on his heels and stormed off. 

He paced in his room. Not fair! He wanted to be there for Roman too! 

It was his birthday too. 

That thought made him drop. Hard.

\---

(Three Months later.)

It was quiet. That’s what Roman noticed. It was terribly quiet. Remus would pop up with something to ruin his mood any second-

He stood up so fast he knocked over his chair. REMUS! He hadn’t seen his brother in months! Not since his...their birthday.

He went and knocked on Remus’s door. He must be so upset to have been sulking, and for this long. 

Nothing. He knocked again. 

He frowned and opened the door braced for impact of some kind. He looked around the room. Remus wasn’t in here?  
Then.. A whimper. He looked towards the corner of the room and his stomach sank. 

Remus had regressed down to toddler size. That wasn’t the problem that made Roman feel sick. Remus did that often. Changing size to match his head space. 

The fact that he looked like a skeleton of a child with skin was the problem. His cheek sunk in, his eyes were wide with dark circles that should not be on a child’s face.

“Remus?” Roman asked in shock.

Remus started crying and shivering. Roman crossed the room in a couple steps and picked his brother up. Remus curled against his chest. “What happened?” 

“No fair!” Remus said. “Alone!” 

“Why didn’t you get someone?” Roman asked.

“No reach.” 

He couldn’t reach the door knob. 

“Why are you still little?” Roman asked. Something really bad must have happened to him that got him stuck like this.

“Ohers. Mean.” Remus said. 

“When?” Roman asked.

“Birday.” 

He was in here starving for three months and no one noticed???

Guilt hit Roman like a baseball bat to the chest. His grip on Remus tightened. “Let’s get you some food.”

He left the room and ran into Logan. “Ah Roman I...Is that...Remus?”

Remus whimpered and tucked his head down hiding against Roman. Roman shifted away from Logan, his stance protective. 

“Yes.” Roman said. “And he needs something to eat.”

“He looks like he needs a lot more than that….Has he been regressed this whole time?” Logan asked.

“What do you think?” Roman snapped taking a step away when Logan reached towards Remus. 

Logan held his hands up in surrender. He took a step away for safe measure. Roman looked like he’d bite Logan’s hand off if he tried to touch Remus again. 

Roman walked off keeping an eye on Logan the whole time. He got to the kitchen and found Virgil and Patton there.

“What happened?” Patton yelled.

Remus whimpered and curled in around himself. Roman shifted his grip so Remus was more secure. “He needs food.” 

“Why is he so-” Virgil was cut off by the look in Roman’s eyes. Roman didn’t know who did it, but there was going to be hell to pay.

“Food. Now.” Virgil and Patton didn’t say anything else. They pulled out everything from the fridge and put it on the table. 

Roman tried to set Remus down but he whimpered and clung to him. So he sat down and held Remus in his lap as he made him a sandwich. Remus ate it with one hand, the other tightly gripping Roman’s sash.

Roman watched Virgil and Patton as they whispered in the corner. 

Virgil inched closer. “Um..Remus?”

Remus looked up at them. “We’re really sorry.”

“You did this?” Roman asked. Virgil froze at the cold tone. 

“We didn’t...We just wanted you to have a good birthday.” Patton said.

Roman stood up. “Come on. It’s not a big deal!” Virgil said, stepping between Roman and Patton. 

Not a big deal??? 

Remus whimpered again. 

Roman punched Virgil in the face.


	53. Baby trash rat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is this short? yes. Am I sorry about that? also yes. It's all I've been able to write. Catch.

“Get out of the trash can!” Patton said.

Giggling.

“Don’t eat my book please!” Logan said exasperated. 

Num, num, num.

“DO NOT PUT THE FORK IN THAT OUTLET! HOW DID YOU EVEN GET THE COVER OFF??” Virgil freaked out.

BuzzzzzZAP! Heheh!

“OW! No! Don’t! Bite!Me!” Roman said, backing away. 

Grabby hands and a pout.

“No! You are staying in the time out cage!” Babbling. Clang! “Good luck chewing through the bars.” Janus said dryly. 

Remus sat in the dog cage chewing on the bars. “He can’t chew through that can he?” Virgil asked.

“He shouldn’t be able to.” Logan said.

“Is that ok to put him in there?” Patton asked.

“Where else do we keep him?” Roman asked, crossing his arms.

They woke up in the morning to a toddler Remus running around like a maniac. He had regressed sometime in the night and had managed to trash the common room before Virgil woke up and caught him.

It had been a long day since then. 

“So we wait it out right?” Virgil asked.

“We can’t leave him in there!” Patton said. 

“Why not?” 

“Virgil! That’s not a good place to keep him.” 

“Can’t break anything in there.” 

“Umm...what a second.Where did he go?” Roman asked. They looked over at the cage to find the door open. 

“Spread out and find him before he can catch anything on fire!” Janus said.

They scattered. 

Darting off in different directions. No one thought to check in the real world.

\---

Thomas looked up from his laptop to see toddler Remus staring at him. “Hey buddy. Is it a little day?” Thomas asked.

Remus waddled over and climbed up onto the couch and then into Thomas’s lap. “Cuddle time?” 

“Yee!” Remus replied.

Thomas went back to what he was doing as Remus drifted off to sleep.

An hour later Virgil popped up, “Thomas have you seen…” He trailed off as he saw Remus asleep. “How did you do that?”

Thomas shrugged. “Not that hard. He just wants cuddles. That calms him down.” 

“Only for you.” Virgil muttered under his breath. 

“What?” Thomas asked.

“Nothing!”

Remus slept peacefully.


	54. Babysitting 2

Them all regressing at the same time was rare. The fact that most of them regressed to under five was a problem. One that Remy was not ready to handle.

He walked into the half destroyed living room and froze. All six of them...at one time?

He almost dropped his coffee. 

Remus was in the couch having torn out stuffing to the point there was a hollow that he was hiding in. Janus was trying to turn on the t.v which had been unplugged by Logan who was playing with the wires. Roman was coloring on the wall with Patton. While Virgil was curled up under the table napping.

“Ok. Logan get out from behind the tv.” Remy said reaching into the couch to pull Remus out who hissed and tried to bite his hand. 

Logan popped up with a handful of wires and a pair of scissors in his hands. “But I gotta fix it!” 

“I’ll fix it..” If I can. “You just get out from behind there.” He said tugging Remus out. 

Logan nodded. He stood to get out. The t.v fell over. It barely missed Janus’s head and crushed on top of his foot. He looked down in shock as Remy let Remus go, who dove back into the couch, and walked over to pick up the t.v.

Janus teared up, a bruise forming on the side of his foot. 

“Oh hey! No it’s fine!” Remy said.

Janus started bawling. “Oh no!” Logan said, “Sorry!” He started to cry himself.

This was going to spiral if he didn’t do something soon!

“Who wants cookies?” He yelled.

That worked...for the moment. 

Everyone was calm. Until Remus brought up murder.

“No! I don’t like dat!” Patton yelled.

“Kill him! Kill him!” Virgil chanted. 

“NO!” Patton said close to tears.

“Kill him!” Janus said joining in. 

“Please don’t.” Remy said tired.

Logan was hiding behind Remy as Roman wrestled a knife from his brother. 

“Let go!”

“No you!” 

“NO YOU!” 

The knife slipped and fell to the floor. Roman stepped on it.

“OW!” 

Remy walked over with Logan close behind and knelt down to look at Roman’s foot. It was a small nick. It would be fine. He picked up the knife. “Alright. We’re having quiet time now.”

“But-”

“I don’t-”

“Remus is-”

“Quiet. Time.” He said firmly.

They were set in different areas away from each other until the regression wore off. Logan was appalled at the damage he had done to the t.v cables. Patton and Roman were mad about the couch. Remus was disappointed that no one got mained. 

Virgil was panicking a bit over the fact that all of them had regressed at the same time and Janus was calming him down. 

All in all a successful babysitting job, Remy thought as he left.


	55. birthday part two

Virgil was knocked to the floor. “Roman!” Patton yelled.

“Not a big deal? Have you even seen him?” Roman demanded hugging Remus to him. 

Remus hid his face against Roman’s chest. Roman’s glare faded as he looked down at Remus. “No mean.”

“Ok….ok.” Roman took a deep breath. 

“No mean!” Remus said.

“Ok.” Roman said. He held out a hand which Virgil slowly took. Roman pulled him to his feet. His glare told Virgil that he wasn’t done with him. Something that made Virgil take a few steps out of arm’s reach.

“We didn’t mean for this to happen!” Patton said.

Remus looked up at him and stuck out his tongue. “Fair enough.” Roman said. 

“I’m so sorry. I’ll make apology cookies.” Patton promised. Remus perked up at the idea of cookies. 

“Cookies?” 

Roman’s glare softened. “In a little bit. Let’s get you something to drink.” 

“Choco milk?” Remus asked.

“I’ll get it.” Virgil offered. 

Roman let him. He watched him closely though. As Virgil handed over the sippy cup he was quick to pull his hand back out of reach. 

“I’ll get started on the cookies!” Patton said.

“Yes. do.” Roman said shortly. He walked out of the room with Remus. 

“T.v?” Remus asked, pointing to the screen. 

“Sure.” Roman set it up with a cheaply made horror film. Something for Remus to laugh at. 

He sat with Remus in his lap watching to fake blood spray. Remus giggling at it. He was slowly letting himself relax. Remus was safe now. He was going to be safe.

He was safe. He was safe. He was-

“Roman?” 

Roman snapped his head up from looking at Remus. Patton jumped. “Can I...give these to him?”

Roman nodded once. Patton stepped closer with the cookies. Remus turned his head and his face lit up. “Cookies!” 

He grabbed two one in each hand and started nummy on them. 

Roman let himself smile. 

Everything was going to be fine.

Remus stayed little for another week. Roman never left his side. 

Remus woke up on the couch. The first thing he saw was a birthday banner. 

“Happy late birthday.” Roman said. Remus looked around. Everything was set up for a party. 

“Really?” Remus let himself hope.

“Yes.” Roman said, offering him a hand up, “Sorry it’s late.”

Remus looked at the cake and.. Presents???

He smiled. “It’s perfect.”


	56. Cut part one

WARNING THIS CONTAINS SELF HARM! PROCEED WITH CARE!

It was easy. He’d just cut the feeling away! It was so simple! Remus didn’t like the emptiness that he felt when he was...dumb? That strange almost stupid state he would get in when overwhelmed with thoughts. 

So he would cut himself back to normal! 

Head fuzzy? Cut! Something someone said getting to him? CUT! The immeasurable time he spends alone now that Janus is gone...CUT CUT CUT!

He never cleaned up the blood and kept knives everywhere. He never scarred and he healed so fast...no one ever noticed.

“You got blood all over the couch.” Someone said from behind him. He turned to see Virgil. 

“What’s up nightmare on emo street?” Remus asked.

“Don’t do that. You sound like Roman.” Virgil said crossing his arms.

Something about that look. It made him feel like he was a child getting scowled. He shivered. A knife in hand. He almost cut himself in front of Virgil but managed to spin on his heels and get to his room before he began to shred into his arm. 

He forgot he didn’t close the door. 

“What the fuck?” Virgil demanded from the doorway. 

“Maybe later.” Remus said.

Virgil took the knife from his hand. Blood dripping from Remus’s arm to the blood soaked floor. “God! I thought that wasn’t from you! I mean..It was your fault but not...this!” 

He took a breath. “That’s it. You’re never doing this again!”

“But I need it!” Remus said trying to grab the knife again.

“Why? So you can stop your thoughts?” Virgil asked, pocketing it. 

“NO! So I can keep them!” Remus shouted. His wounds were already closing. 

Virgil blinked, “What?”

“I just get...brainless sometimes..And not in the good sex way! It’s like I can’t think of anything and if I can’t do that…..who am I?” The last bit was small. 

“You’re Remus. The annoying, disturbing, gross, messed up figment of some guy’s imagination.” Virgil said. (Holy frik! Virgil stop being that self aware! geez!)

“Aww. Thank you!” Remus said smiling. 

“So… You go mindless huh?” Virgil asked looking over the closed wounds.

“It’s...hard to describe. Like I’ve had half my brain cut out and replaced with a pillow.” Remus said. “And it’s...comfortable.”

“Do you feel younger?” Virgil asked.

Remus looked at him, “What does that even mean?” 

“Like do you feel like a kid again?” Virgil asked.

Remus paused a bit confused. He had never been a kid. A teenager sure but a kid? He didn’t exist then. It wasn’t until later in Thomas’s life that he showed up. 

“I never was a kid.” Remus said. 

Virgil blinked. “Oh. Right...I wonder if you’re trying to get the childhood you never had.” Virgil mused. “We should ask Logan.”

“Right.” Remus said. “Like that’s a good idea.” 

Virgil sighed, “Well it’s better than just slicing yourself up.”

Remus couldn’t argue with that. So he let Virgil go and get Logan. He wasn’t leaving, not when he still had to cut away the feeling.

They walked in to him slicing his face up. “REMUS!” Virgil snached the knife from him. 

“Awww.” He pouted with a sliced up lip. Blood dripping from the multitude of cuts to the floor.. Virgil winced at the sight. Logan was unfazed. 

“So this is your solution to a healthy coping method.” Logan said.

“I don’t do coping.” Remus said reaching up and tearing into a wound.

“Hmm.” Logan hummed before stepping forward and gently removing Remus’s hand from his face. He waved a hand and the wounds were gone. “There. Feel better?” He’s tone soft.

“I’m...no!” 

“It’s ok now.” Logan said. 

Remus dropped. Tears bubbled up into his eyes. “But...It’s not!”

“Not ok?” Logan asked.

“No! Everyone gone!” Remus wailed. 

Virgil winced at that. “Well I’m here.” Logan said.

“You’ll go.” He whimpered.

“I’m staying right here alright?” Logan said.

Remus nodded. This was weird. But..he could do weird right? Alright the onesie was comfortable, the sippy cup was annoying as he couldn’t splash anyone with his drink. The attention was nice though. 

“He’s so...calm.” Roman stated. 

“Cute!” Patton said as Remus yawned. 

“That looked like normal.” Virgil argued before Remus’s eyes drooped and he fell sideways against Logan. 

“Awww!” 

“No...still not…” Virgil tried to say.

Remus snuggled closer into Logan’s side and hummed. 

“Ugh. Fine! He’s cute.” 

Remus was almost asleep.

Then Janus walked in.


	57. dropping in school.

This is important. Pay attention to it. This is important. Pay attention to it. Patton repeated over and over in his head. He tried, he really really tried but every word Logan said just made him feel small and stupid. Philosophy was not Patton’s strong point. 

“You understand?” Logan asked, turning from the whiteboard to face him. 

Patton looked at him helplessly. “I...Um…”

“Were you even listening?” Logan demanded.

Patton nodded, “Yes! But…”

“Really? Then repeat what I just said.” Logan crossed his arms.

Patton looked down guilty. “I..sorry.” He muttered.

Logan sighed. “Fine. We’ll stop for today.” 

“I...sorry.” Patton repeated as Logan left the room. He felt awful. He wandered into the other room and found Remy and Emile sitting on the couch. He sat down between them. 

“You ok babes?”

Patton shook his head and hugged himself. His non verbal sign that he was regressing/regressed. Smile saw it and put an arm around his little’s shoulders. “What happened?”

“I’m stupid.” He whispered. 

“Why would you think that?” Emile asked.

“Logan.” Patton said before bursting out crying. 

Remy and Emile looked at each other before Remy stood. He was going to have words with Logan.

He knocked on the door calmly, refusing to let himself knock the door down. “Yes?”

“So….Care to explain why Patton thinks he’s stupid?” Remy asked crossed arms and scowl.

Logan raised an eyebrow. “He’s not..stupid persay but he does lack-”

“I wouldn’t continue that if I were you.” Remy warned sharply.

“You are upset.”

“Well you upset the baby so yeah. I’m a little pissed.” Remy said.

Logan blinked, “Patton...regressed?”

“Good job on catching that smarts.” Remy said sarcastically.

“Where is he?” Logan asked.

Remy looked him over before waving his hand for Logan to follow. Patton was sobbing on Emile when they got there. Patton saw Logan and...whimpered.

That hurt more than Logan thought possible. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Patton shook his head, “I’m stupid.” 

Three no’s sounded from his caregivers. “You are not stupid.” Emile said. “You’re just smart in a different way.”

“A other way?”

“Yes. Emotions.” Emile said.

Logan nodded. “You are smart!”

“Very true.” Remy added.

Patton sniffed. “Can I…” He hesitated looking at Logan.

Logan smiled, “You want a hug?”

Patton nodded. “Hu huh.”

Logan pulled him into his arms. “I’m so sorry.”  
“It’s ok...can I play now?” 

Emile laughed at the sudden change of tone. “Of course, cookie.” 

Patton jumped up and ran off to get his stuff. Logan sighed heavily. “I messed up-”

“You messed up.” Remy said at the same time.

“But you fixed it. Communication.” Emile said nodding. 

“Very important.” Logan agreed.


	58. Argue drop out.

Patton wasn’t doing well. He was losing the argument badly and it didn’t help that he had a headache. 

“Fine! If you don’t want to listen I’ll see tomorrow!” Logan snapped before leaving. 

Patton watched him go feeling miserable. Worse, everyone else left too. He was alone and the feeling that he had failed came crashing down on him. He dropped and started crying. He hid behind the couch. 

It was a half hour later when a face peeked over the back at him. “Oh no. What happened?” Emile asked.

Patton looked up at one of his caregivers and started crying harder. “Lo hates me! I mess up everything!” 

Emile looked at him shocked. “No! He doesn’t hate you!” 

Patton just shook his head and kept crying. Curling up into a tighter ball. They knew that Patton had self esteem issues. But it rarely got this bad. 

Emile had to get Logan. 

Logan was not pleased to see him. “What?”

“Patton-”

“I don’t care.” Logan cut him off.

“But he’s-”

“I don’t care how sorry he is. He can wait until tomorrow.” Logan tried to close the door. 

Emile stopped him, “He thinks you hate him!” 

“Well I do a little right now.” Logan snapped.

Emile stared at him before backing up. “Fine. I guess I’ll go tell the baby that.” 

Logan paled, “He’s regressed?”

“Why do you care?” 

Logan ignored the question. “Where is he?”

“Behind the couch.” 

Logan took off. He stepped behind the couch in front of Patton who whimpered when he saw him. “Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!” 

Guilt weighted on Logan as he got down on his knees in front of Patton. “No need for sorry little one.”

“But you hate me! I did bad!” Patton sobbed. “I tried and tried and tired and I’m no good!” 

“I-”

He felt the slight tug of a summoning and was pulled away from Patton.

\---

Patton watched as Logan left again and felt his heart break more. He really did mess up! He really was bad! 

Emile walked in just as Logan left and saw Patton stop crying. At first he thought that was good. Then he saw the expression on Patton’s face. 

The empty stare that just hurt to see. 

“Pat?” 

Patton didn’t turn to look at him. This was bad. “I’m ok.” Patton said his voice was hollow. 

The empty stare was replaced with a plastered on smile. He wiped his face off and stood. “Silly thing to get upset about.” He laughed nervously. 

“Your feelings are valid.” Emile said softly.

Another awkward laugh. “I think I’m going to…” He trailed off as Emile raised an eyebrow. 

Emile patted the couch next to him. Patton sat down as far away as possible. “Let’s talk about why you think that Logan hates you.”

Patton shrugged, “No reason…” He was staring at the floor. Stubbornly refusing to meet Emile’s gaze. 

“So you normally sob behind the couch?” 

Patton frowned. He still didn’t look up. “It’s ok… really… Who thought that I was going to do anything right anyways?” He laughed humorlessly before sobbing again.

Emile hugged him. Patton tucked himself against Emile’s chest and sobbed his heart out. 

“I failed.” He said, dropping again into little space.

“You did your best.” Emile promised. 

“Not good enough!”

“You are good enough.” Emile promised.

“No! Lying!” Patton yelled shoving himself away. He ran off before Emile could right himself. 

“Wait!”

Patton didn’t. He just ran, and ran.

Until he ran into someone.

Janus looked at him with a raised eyebrow.


	59. Caregiver burnout. 1

It had been a week of crying, fighting, hyper on sugar because whoops he left the cookies in reach of little hands, and oh no someone is awake from a nightmare/needs another blanket/ drink. Roman was sitting on the couch trying to stay awake as Logan, Patton, and Virgil sat on the floor watching t.v.

Just a couple minutes of shut eye would be alright...right? He let his head fall back. Just a couple. Of. minutes…

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

He jumped up to find Remus stand in the middle of the room holding...something. It looked like twice dead roadkill. Patton and Virgil were screaming. Logan was just staring.

“What are you doing?” Roman asked. He meant to sound angry. Instead he was exhausted. He almost stood up then thought better of it. 

Remus eyed him. “You look as dead as this!” He shook the thing and a furry arm fell off.

The screaming increased. Roman winced. His temples throbbing. “Please. Just...get rid of it.”

Remus opened his mouth to say something before throwing the thing towards Roman’s lap. He didn’t even flinch as it landed on his legs before vanishing. Roman just rubbed his temples as the screaming calmed.

“It’s alright.” He muttered. “It’s fine now.”

“But it died!” Patton yelled. 

Virgil was crying. Logan looked disappointed that the.. Thing was gone.

“What about…” Roman cast back trying to remember what they had been watching. “The...t.v?”

“We finished wawtching. “ Logan informed him. 

“Lunch!” Patton said. 

Virgil was still crying. 

Roman rubbed his face. “Right. It’s time for lunch. Let’s..go.”

He half stood before passing out right in front of Remus. Remus stared at him. “Huh. I didn’t even have to do anything!” 

Patton screamed, “HE’S DEAD!” 

“Nononono.” Virgil chanted, starting to rock back and forth. 

Remus looked around at them. “Ummm. No?”

Logan walked over to roman and poked him with his foot. When Roman didn’t wake up he nodded to himself. “Yup. Dead.”

“NO!” Patton wailed crying. 

Remus did an awkward step back. What the hell was he suppose to do?

He called Janus. “Quick how do you take care of kids!?” 

“How should I not know? Don’t ask Patton.” Janus said.

“HE IS THE KID!” 

Janus looked around. “Oh...This is...good.”

“We need to do something!” 

“Or...we leave?” Janus said.

Remus looked at him. “I mean..we could.”

They stared at each other. 

They ended up getting the three lunches after putting Roman on the couch. Roman woke up four hours later to a blanket over his and a pillow fort blocking his view of the t.v. 

“Oh hey you’re awake.” Remus said. “You owe me one.” 

“Yeah right...thanks.” 

Remus smiled at him. 

Janus was asleep stuck between Patton and Virgil. Logan sat next to Remus. 

Roman yawned. He could not keep doing this by himself. After today he wasn’t going to volunteer for long term caregiving. He just wasn’t cut out for it.


	60. caregiver burnout 2

He was not a good caregiver. He was too harsh and worried way too much. But he didn’t have a choice. Roman messed up and Patton, Logan, and himself were kids again. Roman was the youngest. Patton the oldest. 

He thinks. 

Virgil was perched on the coffee table watching nervously as Logan colored, Roman played with blocks, and Patton played with stuffed animals. He was biting his thumb nail as the block tower wobbled. Logan looked up and gently adjusted a piece so it stayed upright.

He looked to Virgil with a smile. “Umm..good job kid.” 

Logan beamed. 

Patton looked up at that. “Me too?”

“You didn’t do nothing!” Logan said.

“I was quiet like he said!” 

“Till now!!” 

“Stop!” Virgil snapped.

All three of them jumped, Roman knocked over his tower. Tears welled up in his eyes. Logan and Patton looked at Virgil expectantly as Roman cried.

“What?”

“You got to hold him.” Patton said.

“What? I’m not doing that!” 

Roman wailed. Virgil jumped down and picked him up, “Ok fine geez!” 

He stood there holding Roman out at arms length. 

“Hold him to you.” Patton said.

Virgil pulled him against his chest. Snot and tears getting on his shoulder and neck as Roman tucked his head against it and wrapped his arms up holding onto Virgil. “Umm..there there.”

Logan rolled his eyes. “Pat his back.”

Virgil softly patted Roman’s back. His crying calmed. 

This...wasn’t that bad. Roman’s arms tighten in a tiny hug and Virgil smiled at how cute that was. Then Roman fell asleep. Great! All he had to do was put him down and he didn’t have to worry about him.

He didn’t really want to put him down. He shook his head. What was he thinking?

He put him on the couch. 

“Great.” Virgil said. He could go clean the snot off his neck. 

There was a crash from the room he left them in. He ran back as Roman scream cried. 

“What happened?” 

The t.v had fallen down and Roman had woken up scared. Patton pointed at Logan. “He did it.”

“I wanted t.v.” 

“Well don’t!” Virgil said before taking a breath. “Just...Don’t move.”

He walked over and picked up Roman again. He looked over at Logan and Patton and guilt surged through him at their upset expressions. 

“Who wants cookies?”

That fixed it. Logan lined his cookies up smallest to largest before eating them. Patton stacked his and tried to bite through all of them at once. Roman just sucked on the edge of one. 

Virgil smiled despite himself. This wasn’t as hard as he thought. He just had to do it right. 

It lasted another two hours before it wore off and they were back to normal.

“I think you did a great job kiddo!” Patton said.

“Agreed.” Logan said.

“Indeed!” Roman said.

Virgil rolled his eyes, “Yeah well don’t ever do that again...without warning.” He muttered the last bit.

“What was that?” 

“Nothing!”


	61. Feeling off

Remus felt weird. A different weird than normal. It was softer and calm. He didn’t like it. It made him feel..bad for most of his thoughts. They distrubed him, like they disturbed his brother. 

Roman! That’s it! He could help with this.

He walked into the common room and everyone looked at him. A few glares, well ok, all glares. That was normal. What wasn’t was the fact Roman didn’t seem to be around.

“Where’s Roman?”

“Why?” Virgil asked.

“Can’t I just pop in for a visit?” Remus asked.

“No.” Logan, Janus and Virgil said at the same time.

Why did that make the feeling worse? 

“I think it’d be better if you left.” Patton said.

“But-”

“Get out!” Virgil yelled. 

Remus looked to Janus for support. Nothing. He huffed and turned to hide the tears. He stormed off tears pouring down his face. “I didn’t even do anything!” He pouted as he closed his door. 

He gripped his head as the feeling grew. He saw a disemboweled human to his right, Normally he would laugh. This time….

He was covered in vomit and it was gross and he didn’t like it. He started crying and hid in his closet to get away from the smell that followed him. 

He tucked his knees to his chest and cried harder.

Roman opened the door to apologize for the others when he noticed the smell. That wasn’t strange, the lack of remus was. Until he heard the crying from the closet.

He opened the door. “Oh no.” 

Remus looked up at him from the floor. He was small.. Literally. He whimpered, “Yucky.” He was covered in vomit. 

Roman looked at him concerned, “Are you alright?” He normally enjoyed being covered in...disgusting things. But he looked so upset. Why was he a kid though?

Remus shook his head and cried. 

First thing was first. Getting him cleaned up. Second was figuring out what was wrong. 

Getting him clean was surprisingly easy. All Roman had to do was make a bubble bath and Remus jumped in. He got him dressed in comfortable clothing that Remus didn’t seem to mind at all about. He picked Remus up and He clung to Roman and started chewing on his fingers. 

Had he gotten smaller?

Roman walked back to the living room with Remus in his arms. Janus looked up and stared. “...What?” That got everyone else’s attention.

“Um. I don’t know? I just found him like this?” Roman said going to put Remus down. Remus’s eyes teared up and wailed grabbing on tightly to Roman’s sash. Roman pulled him closer again. He looked around for help.

Patton stood, “Hey Kiddo why don’t you…”

Remus screamed that ear splitting screech as Patton reached for him. The lights blew out. Patton retreated.

Remus was choking Roman with his grip around his brother’s neck holding on for dear life.

Janus stood up and pulled Remus away from Roman so he could breath. “NO NO NO!” 

“Remus stop it!” Janus snapped.

Remus froze and looked at Janus. He whimpered. “Mean.”  
“Breath Remus.” Remus struggled reaching out for Roman again.

Roman looked terrified. “What do I do?”

“Well he seems to like you.” Virgil said. 

Roman took Remus back and He curled up against him. He hummed happily. 

“I’ll fix the lights.” Logan said. Remus watched him as he walked by. He was weary of the others. 

“Alright. So...how do we fix this?” Roman asked.


	62. feeling off 1.5

Thomas felt weird. Like he was calm...then he panicked, and the panic grew with time. He was about to call Virgil to ask what was going on when Roman appeared with…

“Tomas!” Baby Remus yelled reaching for him. 

Roman all but threw the child at him. “Here! Take Remus! You are the only one other than me that he isn’t pissed at!” 

“Ooookay? Wait this is REMUS?” Thomas looked down at the tiny duke who smiled up at him. 

Roman ran a hand through his hair. “Yes. The others were harsh and he reacted like this!” 

Remus watched his brother have a mental breakdown while chewing on his fingers. 

“Roman..You need a break. I’ll watch Remus for awhile.” Thomas promised.

Roman stared at him. “You..You sure about that?”

Thomas nodded before Remus patted his cheek. “Eat?”

“Yeah. Let’s get you some food.” 

Roman sighed in relief and sank out. Thomas’s panic faded off as Virgil was informed. He walked to the kitchen and soon encountered a problem.

Remus did not want to be set down. 

He grabbed, bit and screamed at the idea. Thomas had to stumble through making a sandwich one handed. When he was finished he gave it to Remus who liked it despite the lack of inedible things.

Remus fell asleep halfway through the sandwich. He curled up in Thomas’s arms and slept. Thomas tiptoed to the couch and sat down. He leaned back and let Remus sleep on his chest. This was soothing. The steady breathing. 

Soon enough he was falling asleep too. Blissfully unaware of the brewing problems below.


	63. dream or not?

“Lately you’ve become a burden, and I can’t handle it anymore.”

It was said so calmly, as calm as commenting on the weather. But it shattered Roman’s heart. He slapped on a confident face and nodded. “Well then I’ll get out of your way.” He told Logan. His caregiver- Friend- him.

Logan nodded and turned away from him to go back to work. Throwing away Roman’s latest project without so much as a glance at it. 

Roman turned and left the room. He was fine. Logan couldn’t handle him anymore. That was fair. He was too much. Too loud, too dramatic. Too much.  
Not anymore. 

“Are you alright?” Patton asked after a week of subdued behavior. 

“Of course!” He lied. “Lost in thought.”

“You have those?” Virgil said, shooting him a smile to tell him he was teasing. That was where Roman was to shoot back. Beginning their banter.

Then Logan spoke. “Don’t start that.” 

So Roman shut his mouth and went back to scribbling in his journal. Virgil and Patton shared a concerned glance. Roman was focusing on not crying. Not good enough yet.

“And you haven’t gotten any work done?” Logan asked sharply the next day.

Roman’s mouth went dry. “I’ve been working on it! It’s just-”

“No excuses please.” Logan said rubbing his temples.   
Roman deflated. “Sorry.”

Logan looked at him and frowned, “Are you alright?”

“Me? Never better.” He lied. 

Logan pulled out a calendar and looked it over. “You haven’t regressed in over a week.” He stated.

Roman had. Twice. He just hadn’t gone to Logan for it. He shrugged. Logan looked at him worried. 

“Why don’t we-” Logan was cut off by Roman standing.

“I should finish my work. It’s important.” He said trying to appease Logan before he yelled or told him off or something.

Logan seemed surprised. “Alright. If you want to.” 

Roman nodded with a smile. He did the right thing. Didn’t he?

Logan watched him walk away confused. Roman seemed almost...afraid of him? Had something happened?

Over the next two days it got worse. Roman was jumpy and still refused to regress. “Just don’t want to be a bother.” He muttered as he left the room one night. 

Logan was sure he didn’t mean to say that out loud. But he couldn’t let him think that any longer and followed him out of the room. He caught him before he got to his room. 

“Logan! I was just..” He shut up quickly. Going so far to slap a hand over his mouth.

“What is going on? Did I do something?” Logan asked. “If you perhaps one of the others as a caregiver-”

“What? But..you said that I was a burden on you?” Roman asked confused.

Logan blinked, “When was this?” 

Roman glared, “Why does it matter when?”

“I’m asking because you have a tendency to have vivid nightmares.” Logan said.

Roman froze. That...was a dream? It couldn’t have been!

“You are not a burden to me.” Logan said.

Roman shook his head and darted into his room. Logan watched him go. 

How the heck was he suppose to fix this?


	64. Got em

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ;-; dudes I have no idea what this is......

Logan didn’t think he would be up at one in the morning watching Remy and Thomas, both regressed by the way, as they seemed to babble nosounse at each other sitting on Thomas’s bed. Both yawning quite a bit but refusing to sleep. Logan had tried everything from warm milk, to active games like tag, and even put on music.  
Nothing.

“It is almost four in the morning. You both need rest.” He stated.

Remy blew a raspberry at him and Thomas laughed. Logan sighed, “Very well. You leave me no choice.” 

He summoned Virgil. Virgil took one look around. “Why me?”

“Ah...Patton was supposed to show up.” Logan said. “I was calling from him room….It’s a bit early for you to be there unless-”

Virgil loudly cleared his throat. “YES! Right! There’s children to get to sleep!” 

“Ah yes!” Logan said successfully distracted.

Virgil relaxed a little before turning to face the current problem. Thomas and Remy had been watching him since he showed up. When Virgil turned to face them again both reached for him.

Virgil backed up. This was the wrong move. Both of them got upset. Remy glared and angrily slammed his fist down on the bed. Thomas teared up. 

“Oh shi-” Logan covered Virgil’s mouth. 

Virgil cleared his throat and removed Logan’s hand. He sat down on the edge. Remy grabbed him and pulled him onto the bed between the two. Thomas brightened and hugged him from one side and Remy hugged him from the other. 

“Why?” Virgil asked Logan as he was trapped. Logan fought to not laugh.

“They got bored of me.” He said.

Virgil narrowed his eyes. “Don’t you dare-”

“Enjoy.” Logan left.

Virgil fell backwards with both Remy and Thomas. He lay there staring at the ceiling as he was cuddled. 

“Purple.” Thomas said.

“Yeah.” 

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Yeah purple.”

Remy fell asleep quickly. Thomas on the other hand tried to sneak away. “Where are you going?” Virgil asked.

“No where.” Thomas said, glancing at the door.

“Well I’ll go with you to no where.” Virgil said.

Thomas held out a hand. Virgil held back a sigh and grabbed Thomas’s hand. They went downstairs to the living room. Thomas grabbed the remote and sat on the couch.   
“T.v time huh?” Virgil asked.

Thomas nodded and turned it on. He got into a random episode of Steven universe. He sang along to the theme song as Virgil yawned and settled down on the couch for a small nap. 

He just dozed off when he got shaken awake. He looked up to see Patton. “Wha?”

“You are going to hurt your neck sleeping like that.” Patton whispered. 

Virgil frowned for a second. Why was he whispering? He looked over to see Thomas asleep.

“Sorry. Logan called me.” Virgil apologised. 

“It’s alright. You had to take care of Thomas.” Patton said sitting down next to Virgil so Virgil could lean against him. 

They both looked over at Thomas. “He’s going to be out for awhile.” 

There was a beat of silence. 

“So. You handled it well?” Logan’s voice made them jump apart. 

They looked at each other and then at his smug expression. “This isn’t what it-”

Logan pulled out a card, “I believe I have...Got em.”


	65. show's over

Remy was small, about five. Janus was a couple years younger on the small scale. They were sitting on the floor with coloring supplies. They weren’t coloring. Instead they were watching Roman, (and a very reluctant) Logan act out a story Roman had written.

Roman fake stabbed Logan and they both gasped. “No!” 

Janus rushed over to Logan who broke character to show that he was alright. “It’s fine. See?” Janus hugged him, glaring at Roman.

Roman sighed and vanished his sword. Remy looked disappointed. He huffed and grabbed his juice box sipping at it angrily.

Roman almost laughed at the display. Almost. Instead he walked over and sat down on the floor next to the pouting little. “Hey. You ok?”

“It wasn’t over.” He grumbled. 

“No but that’s ok.” Roman reached out to ruffle Remy’s hair when Remy ducked and batted at his hand.

He huffed again. “Whatever.” He turned away from all of them.

Janus tilted his head in confusion. He turned to Logan, “Why he mad?”

“He is upset that the show is over.” Logan explained. 

“Oh.” Janus looked down. Then back up again. “Will a hug make better?”

Logan smiled, “Maybe.”

Janus nodded and moved over to Remy. He opened his arms, “Hug?”

Remy looked at him. He huffed again but accepted the hug. “Sorry no feel good.”

“Whatever.” Remy smiled. “Coloring now anyways.”

“Really?”

They both pulled apart and grabbed crayons and pages. Janus began scribbling wildly as Remy was more controlled in his coloring.

Logan got up off the floor. “All’s well that ends well.” 

Roman nodded.   
“Roman?”

“Yeah?”

“Maybe leave the weapons out of it next time.”


	66. feeling off 2

“Where’s Remus?” Janus asked as Roman got back.

“With Thomas.”

“Is that a good idea?” Logan asked.

“Is Thomas safe?” Virgil.

“Is Remus safe?” Patton.

“Yes to both. They are fine. We all need to talk.” Roman said, crossing his arms. There were a few concerned glances. “You all deeply upset him.” 

“We didn’t mean to…” Patton trailed off. They didn’t really care how it made the duke feel. They just wanted him gone. 

“How do we fix this?” Virgil after a long pause. Everyone looked at Roman.

Roman sighed, “I don’t know.” 

“Shocker.” Virgil muttered. 

Roman rolled his eyes but continued. “You all need to make it up to him. In your own ways.” 

There was another pause. “Cookies.” Patton finally said.

Roman turned to Logan. “I have something.” He said vaguely. 

Roman nodded, He looked towards Virgil who shifted uncomfortably. “I’ll...think of something.”

Roman nodded again, then turned to Janus, who raised an eyebrow. “Oh I totally have something.”   
“Well think of something.” Roman said before turning and leaving. 

He rose back up just as Thomas fell asleep holding Remus. He paused before deciding that now would not be a good time to get Remus back. He stuck around waiting. 

\---

Patton was sitting with cooling cookies when Roman got back with Remus a few hours later. Remus sniffed the air before looking at the table. He burst out in a grin. Patton hesitated to smile back. “Cookie?” He offered.

Remus happily took it. “Tanks.” He said.

Now Patton smiled, “You’re welcome.” 

Roman nodded to him. One down, three to go. 

After four cookies and a fifth taken with them, they went to see Logan. Logan stood as they walked in. “Ah. Roman, Remus.” He nodded his head.

Remus eyed him before waving slightly. “What have you got for him?”

Logan pulled out a story book. He handed it over. It was clearly not a real children’s book as it had a number of gory murders depicted on the front. Remus beamed at it. He took it and hugged it. Then he looked back up at Logan. He held the book back out. “Read?”

“Oh no I don’t-” Roman stared at him. Logan sighed. “Very well.”

Fifteen minutes later, they left with the book. Roman knocked on Virgil’s door and it slowly opened. Roman shuddered. There were spider webs everywhere as usual. 

In the middle of the room was a spider the size of a large dog staring at them. Roman almost slammed the door shut when Remus wiggled out of his arms and ran over to it. 

To Virgil…

“Why did you change into a giant spider?” Roman asked.

“He likes it.” Virgil said as Remus pet his head. 

After an hour of playing Virgil shifted back. Remus happily showed him the half eaten cookie and book. 

Then they were off to see Janus.

\---

“I am not just going to leave him in here with you.” Roman said flatly.

“Then I won’t do it.” Janus replied just as even.

Remus whimpered and Janus seemed to cave a bit. “Please?” He asked Roman.

Roman shook his head. Janus sighed before closing and locking the door. “This does not leave this room.” He warned.

He waved his hand and...He was just as small as Remus. Roman stared at him in shock. 

Remus beamed as Roman set him down. “You little too!” 

Janus nodded excited, just as childish as he looked, “Yeah!” 

\--

Remus woke up on the couch fully grown and disoriented. “Morning!” Patton beamed at him.

He froze confused. Did Patton really just smile at him?

“Ah. Good morning Remus.” Logan greeted him. 

Remus looked around. He saw Virgil, sitting on the coffee table, who gave him a nod and half smile. Janus was reading in the corner and looked up at Remus. “Feeling better?”

Remus smacked himself in the face, “Nope..I’m awake.” 

“Please don’t knock yourself out.” Roman said.

Remus looked up as Roman entered the room. “Oh I was looking for you!” He paused then frowned. “Why was I…Doesn’t matter. I should be leaving.”

“Don’t you want breakfast?” Patton asked. 

“You...want me….here?” 

“Of course. Part of the FamILY kiddo!” 

Remus laughed. “Well alright. But don’t mind the blood on the carpet!”

“Aaaand He’s back to normal.” Virgil said.

And he was.


	67. quiet time part three

Roman went down stairs and was met with...silence. The three of them looked at him. Logan cleared his throat. “I...apologise. I hadn’t meant to hurt your feelings.” He said gently. 

“We should have been more careful.” Virgil said as Patton nodded.

Roman crossed his arms, “About me over hearing or about you saying it?” 

“The wording was wrong.” Logan explained. “While quiet is nice sometimes. It should not be all the time.” 

Roman nodded, “Alright then.” 

“You hungry?” Patton asked.

“I’ll get it.” Roman said a bit harshly before disappearing into the kitchen. He leaned on the counter. He was dizzy.

Drama king. You really did make a mess out of nothing didn’t you?

“Shut up.” He hissed.

“I..didn’t say anything yet.” Virgil said from behind him. 

Roman spun around. “Oh that...wasn’t aimed at you.” 

Virgil frowned, “Then who was it aimed at?”

Roman shook his head, “Doesn’t matter.” 

“If it’s upsetting you then-”

“I should get over it! I know!” He snapped.

“That wasn’t what I was going to say.” Virgil said.

“But it’s what you thought right? Oh Roman just can’t stop screwing up!” Roman yelled.

Logan and Patton walked into the kitchen. “What’s going on?”

“I think Ro’s having a break down.” 

“I am fine!” Roman said.

There was a heavy silence. 

Liar liar the voice whispered. 

“Shut! Up!” He hissed.

“No one said anything.” Logan stated.

Roman shook his head, “You don’t get it.”

“Then help us to!” Patton said.

“The silence is…” Crushing! 

“Bad?” Virgil offered.

Roman nodded, “It’s...a void. That I have to fill. I have to!”

Realization dawned on Logan. “Oh..I see..Well then. We’ll have to fix that.” 

They are going to shut you up…Run. Hide. don’t let them find you.

How? They were blocking the only exit!

“You need to calm down.” Virgil said, “I can feel your panic from here.”

Roman backed up against the counter. “I can...be quiet...I promise.”

“Roman…” Patton reached off him but back off when he flinched. “We aren’t going to hurt you.” 

“Singing helps correct?” Logan asked.

Roman nodded, not trusting his voice. 

“Would listening to music fill the...ah.. Void?” Logan asked summoning a Mp3 player. 

“I..don’t know?? It should.” Roman said relaxing a little. 

Shut up!

No.

He took the Mp3 player and earphones. He popped one in his ear. Music filled the silence. 

“Thank you.” They all smiled at him. 

Roman walked around with one ear phone in at all times, playing music at low volume. He could hear anyone talking to him, but it was still enough to fill the silence. He doesn’t feel the need to talk just to talk. To remove the crushing weight. He talked because he had something to say, and was quiet when he didn’t. 

The others could enjoy the silence. It couldn’t hurt him anymore.


	68. Real emotions

“Could you stop making jokes for five seconds?” Virgil asked.

“The other option is I cry and face my feelings. So no.” Patton replied before blinking in surprise that he said that outloud. 

Everyone stared at him. 

Patton laughed nervously. “Um..is there a chance we can all just forget I said that?” 

“Pat..” Virgil started.

Patton was quick to stand, “Oh look at the time! Got to go!” He sunk out. He closed his bedroom door and sighed. 

There was a knock. He ignored it. He didn’t want to face this right now. He was shrinking. 

Oh no! Not now!

He started crying, he couldn’t hold it back when he was smaller. He tucked his knees to his chest and whimpered. 

You failed you failed you failed.

“You didn’t.” Janus said leaning down to give him a hand up. Patton let himself get pulled up and into Janus’s arms. “You are not a failure.”

Patton whimpered. “No. failed again. Like always.”

“Perhaps we should see what the others think about that.” Janus started to open the door. 

Patton sobbed and shook his head in fear. “No nonono. I can’t.” He backed up away from the door. 

He bolted into his closet and held it closed. Janus sighed. “You shouldn’t hide from this.”

“Yes I can!” He said. Janus easily opened the closet door. 

Patton stared at him. “Out.”

“NO!”

“Patton.” 

“NOOO!” 

“Please?” Virgil asked, appearing behind Janus.

Patton shook his head and backed up against the closet wall. He was shaking. His head was screaming at him and he was dropping further into Little space. He shrunk, smaller than he ever had before.

“Oh shi-” 

“Child.” Virgil warned Janus.

Logan walked in. “Where is...oh.”

Patton darted past Virgil and Janus and hid behind Logan’s legs. Logan reached down and picked him up. Patton hid his face in Logan’s neck, he whimpered again. Logan patted his back. “It’s alright. You are safe.”

Virgil looked guilty. Janus looked at him. “This is not your fault.”

“Let’s just take care of him.” He answered avoiding Janus’s gaze.

Roman peeked his head in. “What is everyone doing in...here..” 

Toddler Patton and Roman stared at each other. Roman waved. Patton waved back. Patton reached for him. Logan handed him over.

“Hey buddy. What’s up?” He asked.

“I’m bad.” Patton loudly whispered. 

Roman hummed, “I think you’ve got that backwards.”

“Bacwards?” 

“You are good.” 

“Really?” Patton asked wide eyed. 

“Really.” Roman agreed.

“Ok.” 

Janus and Logan looked at each other with a, how the heck did he do that, stare. 

“So you want to play something?” Roman asked brightly.

Patton nodded excited. 

They were going to have to talk to him about this later. But for now he could relax.


	69. trust 1

Janus starred in the mirror, “I can’t do this anymore.” He muttered. He had almost gotten caught too many times. He couldn’t keep this up. It just..wasn’t worth the stress. 

So he boxed everything up, shoved it in the back of his closet and forgot about it. He put away his secret, and with it a part of himself.

He lasted two months before breaking down in the middle of dinner. 

“The snake has feelings? Who cares?” Roman said sharply in the middle of an argument. 

Janus was shaking. From rage, fear, or sorrow he couldn’t tell. He wordlessly stood and fled the room. He locked his door and blocked it with a chair despite knowing no one was going to come check on him. 

He dug through his closet and opened the box. He grabbed the paci and popped it in his mouth as tears started pouring down his face. He wrapped the fuzzy blanket around himself and hugged the plush otter to his chest. 

He rocked back and forward while he cried in the back of his closet. Sobbing silently. He jumped when there was a knock on the door. 

“Are you alright in there?” Patton asked through the door. 

“Fin.” He called back around the paci. 

There was a pause. “Are you sure?”

Janus didn’t respond. The silence grew. Patton tried the door knob. Fear shot through Janus. Enough to snap him out of his little space and shove everything back in the box. He wiped off his face and walked over to the door. He removed the chair and cracked in up slightly.

“Oh.” Patton didn’t expect the door to open. 

“I am fine. “He lied. 

“You’ve been crying.” Patton said.

“Sleeping.” Janus lied again.

Patton frowned, “I thought you were working on being honest.”

“What do you really want?” He snapped.

“I want you to be ok.” Patton said.

“Well,” Janus took a breath. “That’s a first.” It had been almost a year and things had never really gotten better.

No one really liked him being there. They tolerate him at best. 

Patton looked guilty. “Things are going to be ok.”

Janus laughed. “Right. Sure.” He closed the door. Patton knocked again but he ignored him. 

He went to bed but didn’t sleep. He stared at the ceiling feeling empty. Who cared? Really? Patton was just upset that he stormed off. Tomorrow he would be told to apologise and Roman would get away with his behavior….

Unless he just didn’t show up. 

\--

It was mid afternoon when Patton realized that he hadn’t seen Janus. “Hey, Roman have you seen Janus today?”

Roman paused. “No?”

Patton hummed, thoughtful. “I should check on him.”  
“Are you sure?” Virgil asked.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Patton asked. Virgil was about to say something but then thought better of it. 

Janus didn’t answer the door that time or the next morning. Patton was getting very concerned.

It was four days before Janus showed up again. He was both relieved and disappointed when everything acted like he had never been gone. Because they didn’t care.

Except Patton. 

Patton was watching Janus closely and then did something he never had before. 

He stood up for him.

Roman said something sharp. “Apologize.” Patton said.

Everyone paused what they were doing. 

“What?” Roman asked.

“I mean it. You shouldn’t treat him like that!” Patton said crossing his arms.

“Patton it is fine.” Janus said. 

“No it isn’t!” Patton said. “You were...upset. So much so you didn’t leave your room for four days!” 

“It doesn’t matter.” Janus said standing. He had to get out of here. There was a nagging feeling that he was going to drop soon.

Patton caught his arm. “Yes. It does. You are part of this family. You should be treated like part of it.”

Janus and everyone else were stunned, “Really?” Janus asked his voice a little higher. 

“Yes.” Patton said firmly.

Janus wanted a hug. He wanted to run. After a moment of thought and a small cough from Virgil, he choice the latter. He left the room quickly. Locked his door.

And dropped.

So much for giving it up. He bit his lip...Maybe. They could help?  
He shook his head at the thought. That was a foolishly naive to think they would want to help him. So he curled up under his blanket with his otter plush and paci and fell into a fitful sleep.


	70. The three times Logan and Remus made things explode.

The three times Logan and Remus made things explode. 

Number one, eggs.

Logan and Remus were in the kitchen. Bowls, beakers and random cooking ingredients were out for their experiments. Roman was sipping coffee as he watched the littles do ‘Science’.

“Then an egg!” Remus said happily as he dropped an egg in the beaker of random liquids. Logan watched it sink before making a note with a glitter pen about it. 

“Awww. It didn’t explode!” Remus said disappointed. 

“We have to add something else then.” Logan reasoned. 

They ended up adding, hot sauce, pickle juice, chalk, olives and another egg. In the end Roman cheated and snapped his fingers. Making the eggs crack open in the mixture. 

Both of them stared in shock before jumping excited. “It worked!” 

“We did it!” 

They high fived and logan picked up the beaker to show Roman. “Look!” 

“Wow! Impressive.” Roman said smooth faced. Not a trace of him being to blame for it present. 

\---

Number two, water balloon.

Virgil was not in a good mood. Remus and Logan had, “experimented” with a water balloon full of bleach and it ruined his hoodie. Lucky he could easily fix it. 

Till he walked in to see them cutting the bleached parts off. 

“What are you doing?” Virgil asked.

“Fixing it.” They both said at the same time.

He sighed. Well...guess his hoodie was going to have a lot more patches on it. 

\---

Number three, time bomb. 

It was an accident. Really! They just...forgot about the jar filled with cleaning liquids and powders they had put together and hid in the couch. 

Powders that wore down the glass till it was thin enough that someone sitting down caused it to break and spill the mixture into the couch. 

Patton yelled as red liquid seeped out of the fabric and bubbled up. 

Logan and Remus were no longer regressed when it happened and took care of the mess quickly. With many promised to not do that again.

Which they both remember for about a week and a half. 

There was just no stopping them.


	71. When it rains, it pours....but that is okay.

Logan stood in the living room staring at all of them. The age range was larger than normal. Patton was about ten while Virgil was a baby. Janus was smack in the middle with Remus and Roman close on either side of the age range.

“Shh. It’s ok.” Patton said hugging Virgil who was shying away from everyone else. 

“Give it back!’ Roman stomped his foot in frustration. 

Remus laughed holding the toy crown over his brother’s head out of reach. “What are you going to do about it?”

This was bad. Logan was not going to be able to watch all of them. 

Then he felt a summons. Shit.

“Thomas now is not a good…” He paused. Thomas wasn’t looking at him. He was looking at the other sides.

“What happened to them?” Thomas asked.

“Regression.” Logan said at the same time as Remus who was sprawled out on the couch. 

Logan and Remus looked at each other. “Yes. Age regression.” Logan said.

“Right.” Thomas said watching as Virgil walked over to him. Virgil reached up for him. Thomas picked him up. 

“Oh good!” Patton said, giving Thomas a thumbs up.  
“Thomas. What did you need?” Logan asked. 

“Oh I was just wondering why I felt...off.” Thomas looked back at Roman who stood glaring at Remus from across the room. Remus held up the crown and winked with his tongue stuck out. 

Janus held Roman back from attacking his brother. Patton stormed over and snatched the crown back. “No stealing.” He said firmly, shaking a finger at Remus.

“Booo!” Remus said cupping his hands around his mouth. 

Patton handed the crown back to Roman who stuck his tongue out at Remus. Remus rolled his eyes and shifted so he was upside down on the couch. 

Thomas watched while baby Virgil slowly fell asleep. Logan was thinking, he was getting overwhelmed.

“Ah...Logan? You alright there?” Thomas asked as Logan was a good foot shorter than he had been.

“FiNe.” His voice broke. He cleared his throat. “Fine. We need to watch them till this wears off.” 

“How long is that?” Thomas asked.

“Five hours for Roman and Remus. Six for janus. Eight for both Patton and Virgil.” Logan listed pulling out a notepad. 

“What about you?” Thomas asked.

“Me? I’m not…” Logan looked down. “Ah...a week.” 

“A week???” 

“This is fine.” Janus lied.

“We can handle it.” Patton encouraged. 

Thomas took a steading breath. This would be fine.

\---

It was hard to get them all distracted. One movie wouldn’t distract them all. However Remus had decided to take a nap which made it much easier. Roman and Patton watched lady and the tramp while Logan and Janus played chess.

Thomas ended up just holding Virgil while he slept. 

Roman snapped out of it first and offered to take Virgil. An offer Thomas declined, “Just make sure Remus doesn’t mess anything up when he wakes up?” 

Roman agreed. 

Janus snapped out of it and left wordlessly. Roman had to wrestle Remus out of the room. 

“Snack time?” Logan asked Patton. Patton nodded and took Logan’s hand leading him into the kitchen. 

“Cookies?” 

There was a problem with that...but Logan couldn’t think of it had the moment. “Alright.”

Virgil woke up and clung to Thomas. “You ok buddy?” 

“Ba.” Was Virgil’s answer.

“...alright then.” 

Virgil was still holding onto Thomas when he snapped out of it. “Uhhh.” Virgil awkwardly stood up off of Thomas’s lap. “Let’s...not mention this ever again.” 

“Are you embaress-”

“EVER!” Virgil vanished. 

Logan sighed. He was stuck here till he wasn’t regressed anymore. 

“It could be worse.” Thomas said patting him on the shoulder. 

“That is true.” Logan agreed. He looked at the cookies. He grabbed them and popped one in his mouth. 

Thomas made no comment on it.


	72. trust 2

Janus was small when his door was opened. Well was thrown open. “Jan!” Remus yelled making Janus jump. His paci falling from his mouth. 

He stared in terror as Remus paused, looked at the paci then back at him. A long moment passed before Remus shrugged and threw himself on to the bed next to him. “So I had this idea.” He began not mentioning the paci at all. 

Janus relaxed. Despite not being happy to have to deal with the images that Remus was thinking about, he was glad for the company. Until Remus spoke, “Anyway, you can be little around me you know?”

Janus paused, “What?” 

Remus held up the paci. “You can be little. I won’t tell anyone.” 

Janus hesitated before reaching for the item. Remus handed it over easily. “I’ll try to tone it down for you.” 

“I..thank you.” 

Remus beamed at him. “So. About those zombies.” 

Janus let himself get lulled into a sense of safety as Remus rabbles on. 

Maybe things would be fine. 

Everyone was nicer. Things were going well...Until.

“Age regression?” Janus froze as Logan answered.

“Yes I find it quite helpful.” 

“Huh.” Virgil said. 

That was the end of it for both of them. For Janus it was panic inducing. 

He was bordering on paranoia as he got rid of his stuff and avoided anything that could trigger his regression. Remus was confused but didn’t say anything about it. 

“Are you ok?” Roman asked one day.

“Fine.” He lied. 

He hadn’t regressed in weeks. 

Roman frowned. “You know not lying may help us trust you more.”

“It’s...nothing. Really.” Janus insisted. 

Roman paused, “I’m here to listen. Even if it is weird like that age thing with Logan.” 

“It’s just...dreams.” Janus lied.

“Dreams?” Roman asked.

“Nightmares. Like I said..nothing.” Janus lied smoothly.

Roman nodded. “Try tea before bed. It helps me.” He suggested.

“...thank you.” 

Next was Logan, “You seem to be...off.” 

“Fine.” Janus lied.

“..Very well. Please come to me if you need anything.” Logan said. 

“..Right.” 

Janus was laying on his bed staring at the ceiling. He was hugging his pillow to his chest as a replacement for the plush he got rid of. He wanted it back. But...no. He wasn’t going to do that anymore.

He didn’t notice Remus till he licked tears off his cheek. “What’s wrong?” Remus asked as if he didn’t just do that.

“It doesn’t matter.” Janus said in a flat tone.

“Of course it does.” Remus replied. There was a pause. “Is this about the age thing?”

Janus’s silence was his answer. Remus sighed. “You should talk to someone about it.” 

“I’m done with it.” Janus said flatly. “No need.” He opened his eyes to Remus’s shocked face. “What?”

“You can’t do that! I was going to be a good caregiver and everything!” 

Janus sat up, “Wait what?” 

“I was going take care of you when you were little and-”

“You want to?” Janus asked stunned. 

“Of course! I want to help you!” Remus answered.   
Janus was baffled. “I...ok.” 

Remus beamed. “Yeah?” 

It was worth a shot right?

\---

It felt nice to be little again. Remus was upset that he got rid of his stuff so he summoned new stuff for him...a lot of stuff. Janus was sitting in a onesie, holding two plushies, and picking from a pile of decorated pacis.

He ended up pulling out one that was black with gold glitter and his logo on it, he popping it in his mouth. He hummed as Remus beamed at him. “Comfortable?”

“Yesh.” Janus agreed. He felt...safe. He also felt smaller than he had before. 

He made grabby hands and Remus picked him up. Janus cuddled to Remus humming. 

“Nap time?” Remus asked.

“NooOooo.” Janus said through a yawn. 

Remus laughed. “Nap time for the snake.” 

“Mhph!” Remus sat down on the bed with Janus and held him. Humming and rocking gently. 

It didn’t take much for Janus to fall asleep.

Then they were summoned. Remus is still holding Janus. Everything stood there stunned. 

“What is going on?” Thomas asked slowly.

Janus woke up and looked around. He tucked his face into Remus' chest and whimpered. “Shh.. It’s ok.” 

“Is he…?” Roman asked.

“He appears to age regress as well.” Logan said, this confirming his suspicion. Janus peeked out at everyone again and whimpered. 

“It’s ok.” Remus muttered to him. 

“Mean now.” He said.

There were several whinces. “No we aren’t going to…” Patton started reaching forward.  
“No no no.” Janus dropped to the ground and ran off hiding behind the couch. 

Thomas followed him. Janus was curled up, tears falling. “Hey buddy.” 

“No..I don’t like it!” 

“Like what?” Thomas asked.

“Mean.” Janus said pointing towards them. 

“Oh...are you scared of them?” Thomas asked. Janus nodded. 

“You don’t have to be scared anymore. It’s going to be alright.” Thomas said, holding out his hand. Janus looked to Remus who nodded.

Janus took his hand.


	73. Patty cake 1

Patton was tired. He had been trying his best but it just...wasn’t good enough. Virgil could sense his worry rise all day to the point that he had to do something. 

He pulled Patton aside and crossed his arms. “Alright. You need to relax.” 

Patton laughed nervously, “What? I’m fine!” 

“Pat…” 

Patton sighed. “I’m ok...I’ll be ok….” 

“Do you need to be little for a bit?” Virgil asked softly. 

“Please?” Patton looked at him hopeful.

“Come here muffin.” Virgil opened his arms. Patton hugged him and a sob shook him. “Shhh It’s ok.” 

“I don’t mean to be bad at dings!” Patton said.

“You are trying your best. You aren’t being bad.” Virgil said, rocking him back and forth while standing. 

Patton calmed. “No bad?” 

“No.” 

“Then...I can have a cookie?” Patton asked.

Virgil mock gasped, “You little sneak!”

Patton giggled. “So yeah?” 

“You can have A cookie.” Virgil said firmly. Patton thought about it. 

“OOook.” He took Virgil’s hand and led him into the kitchen. He was bouncing as Virgil got out a sugar cookie. 

“What do you say?” 

“Thank you!” Patton said happily before taking a bite of the cookie. He hummed and kicked his feet as he sat at the table. 

“Milk?” Virgil asked.

“...chocolate?” Patton asked shly.

Virgil thought about it. “Alright.” 

“Yes!” Patton said.

Roman walked in. Patton tensed. “Oh? Cookies?” 

“Yes.” Patton said, forcing his voice to normal. His regression was a secret between the two of them. Virgil looked at him concerned. “Cookies.”

“Well enjoy!” Roman said grabbing something from the cupboard and leaving. 

Patton relaxed, “Choco?” 

Virgil laughed and handed him the milk. Patton sipped at it and nibbled his cookie. He clearly had something on his mind.

“You ok muffin?” Virgil asked.

Patton shifted in his seat. “Should I tell dem?” 

“Do you want to?” Virgil asked, sitting down next to him.

Patton looked down and shrugged. “Kinda? I dunno.” 

“We can tell them if you want.” Virgil put a hand over Patton’s.

Patton took a breath. “Later.” 

“Ok.” 

They could only hope it would go well…

\---

They decided to tell Logan about it first. He was not surprised. 

“Age regression?” He asked. “Mmm yes I have heard of that. A healthy coping method. Do you require my help?”

“You aren’t...mad?” Patton asked.

“No?” 

Patton sighed. “I..thank you!” 

“For what?” Logan asked.

“I just...It’s nice that you seem to understand.” Patton explained. 

Logan blinked, “Of course? It is a simple concept.” 

“Do you...I mean...could you..” Patton stumbled his words and looked to Virgil.

“He wants to know if you would like to be around him while he’s little.” Virgil said. Patton nodded. 

“And..while we tell Roman.” Patton added.

“Of course. I will lend my support.” Logan said. 

Patton hugged him. Logan awkwardly patted him on the back. 

Patton was bouncing. Excited. This went so well, surely Roman would understand too, right?

\---

“I don’t get it…” Was all he said before he walked off. 

Patton’s face fall. “Oh..”

“It’ll be alright. He just needs time.” Logan said.

“He could have stuck around for us to explain.” Virgil muttered darkly. 

“We’ll explain it later.” Logan said. “For now...How do you...be little?” Logan said grasping at straws to distract Patton.

Patton smiled at the effort. 

“It starts off with a feelings…

\---

Roman was listening as Patton explained it from the top of the stairs. Why did he run away? He could have a playmate!


	74. patty cake 2

It was mid afternoon when Logan walked into the kitchen and Roman quickly hid what he was holding in the nearest cupboard. 

“What are you up to?” He asked Logan.

“Ah..coffee.” Logan lifted an empty mug as he kept his eyes on the notepad in his hand. Roman nodded. Just wait till he’s gone then you can…

“Hey Princy could you turn your music down? It’s starting to get to me.” Virgil said irritated.

“I..of course.” Roman said exiting the kitchen. He turned the music off in his room and walked out right into Patton. “Oh..Do you need something?” 

“I was wondering if you wanted to hang out!” Patton said happily.

“I..yes! I always have time for you!” He said. He just had to remember to get it when he had the chance.  
\--

He forgot about it till he was ready to regress that evening. 

Roman was in the middle of setting everything up when he realized that he was missing something. He paled when he remembered that he left his sippy cup in the cupboard downstairs. 

He rushed down and slowed as he saw Virgil and Patton in the kitchen. “Oh Cookies?” He asked, trying not to sound suspicious. 

“Yes.” Patton said, “Cookies.” 

Great. They suspect nothing. Roman grabbed the red sippy cup while Virgil was looking at Patton. 

“Well enjoy!” He said leaving with the sippy cup behind him. He bolted up the stairs silently. He locked his door and took a deep breath. That was close. 

He sighed. “Too close!” 

He hummed as he pulled out his Pjs. White with multi colored crowns on it. He got dressed and flipped on the t.v at the lowest volume. He had seen this episode so many times he didn’t need the sound. 

As the opening of sofia the first came on a the happy little space settled on him. 

This was good. He understood this. It was his thing. Just his.

\----

“I don’t get it.” He said, staring at The three in front of him. It was his thing! Just his! Right??

He got to the top of the stairs before he realized that he hurt Patton’s feelings. Dang it! He turned to go back down. 

“He could have stuck around for us to explain.” Virgil said darkly.

“No… I didn’t mean to..” roman whispered. 

Logan spoke. Something to Patton. Roman sat down. 

Why did he run? He listened as Patton explained it and judged his own age regression off of it. It was almost the same. Except...Patton was better at it. Younger. It seemed more..real?

Roman shook his head. This was his thing! He did it great!....

He went to his room. He shut the door. 

“And it’s like I can’t really think!” Patton’s words echoed in his head.

He could think. “Well I’m older in that state so of course I think more.”

“I feel all safe.” 

Roman frowned. He felt on edge, like he had to be careful. 

“Am I really...Regressing?” He wondered.

He shook his head. Maybe not….

He didn’t sleep that much that night.

\---

He ‘woke up’ before anyone else and was in the kitchen when Patton came down. “Oh.” Patton paused in the doorway.

Roman was staring into his fifth cup of coffee, “I get it now.” He said in a tired voice.

“Roman...were you up all night?” Patton asked. 

“Maybe? Look Patton I get it. I understand what you do. I thought I did it too..” Roman looked off the the side.

“You do?” Patton said. “Then why did you..” 

“But I don’t.” He said firmly. He looked up and forced a smile that looked painful. 

“Roman are you-”

Roman stood up, “I thought I was...but I’m not. Not like you….Can’t even do this right.” He muttered the last bit.

“Roman…” 

Roman started to walk off. “Roman wait!” Patton caught his arm. Roman looked at him. “Do you age regress?” 

“I...thought I did.” Roman frowned and shook his head, “But it’s not like yours.” 

“Age regression is different for everyone.” Patton said.

“It..it is?” Roman asked.

“Yes. And there is no wrong way to do it. It’s up to you.” Patton said.

Roman relaxed and smiled a little. “Really?”

“Morning.” Virgil said before he saw Roman. “Oh I need to talk to you about-”

“We already spoke.” Patton said cutting Virgil off before he could get upset. He turned back to Roman. “Can I tell him?”

Roman nodded. 

“Roman regresses too.” Patton said.

Virgil blinked, “Really?”

Roman shifted, “I didn’t know that...I didn’t know how to handle it.” Roman said looking between them.

“Oh...Well then I guess it’s alright.” Virgil muttered. 

Patton beamed and hugged Roman. “We’ll have to have a playdate!” 

“Yeah!” This was going to be great...right?


	75. NO! I DONT!

Logan was grumpy. He refused to admit that he was. But he was overworked, tired, and cranky. “Are you-” Patton started.

“I’m fine.” Logan snapped before draining his remaining coffee. 

“Geez someone needs a break.” Virgil said from his perch on the fridge. 

“Indeed! Take a day off for once!” Roman said, with a wave of his hand removing the coffee cup from Logan’s grip. 

Logan looked down. They expected him to be angry about losing the coffee cup. They did not expect him to tear up. He cleared his throat and gave a very watery, “Excuse me.” Before leaving. 

There was a stunned silence. “I didn’t think he would be…” 

“No. That was weird.” Virgil agreed.

“Should we check on him?” roman asked.

“Give him time.” Patton suggested.

So they did. Unaware of Logan’s internal struggle. He’s war between logic and emotion. 

He skipped dinner and breakfast. He showed up at lunch time, got coffee and left without a word. Roman caught him before he could go upstairs. “Ok stop. We need to talk.” 

“About the schedule, yes I know. I’m late but-” 

“No. I..You’re late?” Roman asked surprised. 

“Yes. I need to get abc to work and-”

“You need a chill day.” Virgil said behind him. 

“I...I can’t.” Logan said almost..afraid. 

“Why not?” Patton asked.

“I…” Logan shook his head. “No.”

He tried to bolt past Them and Roman caught him. 

“No I don’t….I can’t…” He was breathing quickly. He looked terrified. 

“It’s alright.” Patton said.

Then...Logan regressed. Roman was holding a five year old. “No no no!” Logan yelled. 

“Logan?” 

“I gotta work!” 

“Yeah that’s Logan.” Virgil took him from Roman. “Logan listen to me.”

Logan looked at him miserable. “I don’t like it.” 

“Do you know why you’re...small?” Roman asked.

Logan shook his head. “Keeps happening and I hate it! I hate it! I hate it!” 

“Whoa ok! We get it kiddo!” Patton said.

Logan glared at him. “Not a kiddo.” 

“Someone is still cranky.” roman muttered. 

“I GOTTA BE BIG!” Logan yelled.

Janus appeared. “ALRIGHT CALM DOWN!” 

Logan crossed his arms and huffed. “Fine.” 

“Janus?” 

“Yes before you ask, I did know about this and I have been watching him when it happens.” Janus answered before taking Logan from Virgil.

Logan huffed again before letting his head drop onto Janus’s shoulder. HIs arms still crossed. “He’ll snap out of it when he lets himself relax.” He said the last word firmly to Logan. 

Logan stuck his tongue out at Janus. Janus stuck his tongue out back. 

Roman snorted behind his hand trying not to laugh. 

“What was that?” Janus asked him eyes narrowed. 

“Ah..nothing.” Roman answered.

“So we just need to get him to relax?” Virgil asked moving the topic back to the current problem. 

“Will a nap work?” Janus asked Logan.

Logan glared at him. “Alright, when was the last time you slept?” 

“Two..days.. Ago.” He answered looking down. 

“You’re getting a nap.” Janus answered firmly.

“Noooooo!” 

“Nap time.” 

“Plllllllt!” 

“Rude.” 

Janus was slowly rocking back and forth and arguing with Logan as the little’s eyes drooped. “No..sleep.” He said.

“You need it.” Janus said as Logan’s eyes slid shut. 

The three stared at him, “How did you??”

“Shh.” Janus put Logan down on the couch. “Give him a couple hours.”

“Then?” Roman asked worried. 

“Then He’ll want cookies and cuddles.” janus said. 

“Awwwww. “ Patton squealed. 

“We can help with that.” Virgil offered. Janus hissed. Then cleared his throat. 

“Yes...I suppose...you ...can.” He said tightly. 

“Or you can handle it.” Virgil said. 

Logan slept on, caughting up on his much needed rest.


	76. Little lo needs help.

Worst thing about being little in Logan’s mind? Being physically small. He couldn’t help it. So half the time he couldn’t reach anything. 

Or maybe it was watching Virgil take care of Patton and not being given the same treatment. When Patton was small Roman and Virgil took care of him and played with him and got him stuff, when HE was little….

It’s like they didn’t care! 

He huffed as he saw Patton curled up in Virgil’s lap as he read him a story. He didn’t need that! He was fine on his own! He opened the fridge. Why were the juice boxes on the top shelve? He could barely reach that!

He grumbled to himself as he dragged a chair over. He got what he needed and closed the door. He turned around to find Roman watching him. No offer for help!

“What?” He snapped.

“Nothing.” Roman left.

Angry tears pricked his eyes. Of course he just left! He was going to go take care of Patton who was sooo much better than him!

He sniffed and abandoned his juice. He curled up in the corner and cried. 

“Kiddo?” Patton asked.

He jerked his head up. “You are small.” He stated.

“I was. Not anymore. Are you ok?” Logan saw Virgil and Roman behind Patton. He shoved away the hand resting on his knee. 

“You don’t care!” He yelled angrily, wiping away tears. 

“What do you mean?” Patton asked.

“You don’t think! You all stupid!” He ran off. He hid in his closet. He hates them! 

“Kiddo?” 

“Go away!” He yelled giving away his hiding spot.

“Talk to me please.” 

Logan looked at Patton It wasn’t his fault. He knew Patton liked him. “Virgil and Roman don’t like me.”

Patton was shocked, “Of course they do!” 

Logan shook his head. “No! You only like you! They give you hugs! And read to you! And and get you stuff! I got to do everything on my own! They don’t want to help me!”

“Oh… No.” Patton shook his head and pulled Logan inso his lap. “We all thought we didn’t want help. That you wouldn’t like us babying you.” 

Logan huffed. “That’s stupid. I’m little too!” 

Patton smiled, “That’s true.” 

Logan thought about it. “You think they would want to?”

“I think they would be thrilled to help you!” Patton said.

“Ok.” 

Logan sat on Roman’s lap as he read him a story from a story book he wrote. Something new, with moving picture. Virgil handed him an opened juice box. He smiled in thanks. 

This was nice. He didn’t have to reach for things, or be...alone. 

He looked back at the book as a sword fight engaged. He giggled. 

Everything was alright.


	77. argue drop out 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ( not my best work but eeh. I lost the progress I made on this twice and I swear it's cursed soooo. A rushed conclusion. ;-;)

Logan dropped after he got back and found Patton gone. Emile stood there, arms crossed. “You really messed up.” 

Logan whined. “Sorry.” He dropped his head. Emile sighed. Of course he regressed. He encountered way too many emotions to not regress. 

“It’s ok. You can fix it. You just have to talk to Patton and tell him you don’t hate him.” Emile said.

Logan’s head snapped up, “I don’t hate him!” 

“Tell him that. “ Remy spoke up. 

“Where is he?” Logan asked.

\---

Patton sat in Janus’s lap as he sobbed. “Hates me.” 

“Lie.” Janus said.

“Failure.” 

“Lie.”

“Messed up.”

“True, but it was an honest mistake.” 

Patton sniffed, “I don’t know what to do.” 

“Let him say his piece.” Janus suggested. 

Patton nodded. “Mkay.” 

\---

“Sorry.” They both said at the same time. 

Logan frowned, “Why are you sorry? I did it wrong.” 

“I should have been better.” 

“No I should have been better.” Logan said. 

Patton shifted, “I mess up.”

“Everyone messes up.” Logan said. “To be perfect is unattainable.” 

Patton smiled a little dropping. “Really? You no hate me?” 

“Not at all.” Logan said. Patton hugged him.


	78. teen space

There’s little space then there’s middle space. 

There were little days, then there were middle days. Little days were filled with toys, make believe and naps. Middle space…

“I swear if someone else touches my make up they are getting stabbed!” Virgil yelled from the bathroom. 

“I dare you to fight me, coward!” Roman yelled back. 

“Please don’t fight!” Patton yelled.

“Fight fight fight fight!” Remus chanted.

“Disgusting...ten bucks not on Roman.” Janus said.

“I’ll take that.” Logan said. “Virgil fights dirty.” 

“Stop betting!” Patton said. 

Virgil stormed into the living room. Roman drew his sword. “I don’t need to fight you to destroy you shallow stuck up figment of some guy's egg pricked pride.” 

Offend Princy nosies. 

“Boooo! Give me blood shed!” Remus yelled. 

“Fuck.” Janus said, handing Logan a ten dollar bill.

“Langue!” Patton yelled.

Suddenly they were all summoned. 

They stared at Thomas. Thomas stared at them. 

“Ummmmm bad time?” 

“FIGHT!” Remus yelled and lunged at Roman. Roman blocked his attack. 

“STOP TRYING TO FIGHT!” Patton yelled. 

Thomas dodged a throwing knife. Virgil rolled his eyes. Janus went to stand in front of Thomas blocking any incoming projectiles. Logan watched them fight with his arms crossed. 

“EVERY ONE STOP!” Thomas yelled. 

Everyone froze. Thomas took a breath. “Remus sit down in the corner. Roman other corner.” 

Both of them grumbled about it but complied. Thomas took a breath. “Alright. We are all going to remain CALM.” 

Janus sat down on the stairs, Virgil glared at him. “Umm my spot?”

“Do I look like I don’t care?” Janus replied. 

“Janus.” Thomas warned. 

Janus didn’t get up, he just scooted over. Virgil huffed and sat down shoving him over a little more. Janus nudged him his elbow but they settled after that. 

“So...lunch?” Patton asked.

\---

“None of us can cook.” Thomas said.

“Shhh no. It’ll work.” Roman reassured him. 

“It will not!” Logan said.

“It’s smoking.” Logan pointed out.

“That’s steam.” Roman snapped.

“Steam isn’t black and…*cough* doesn’t *cough* choke people.” Virgil said.

“It’s added flavor.” Remus popped up. 

“So is the fire?? PUT IT OUT!” Janus yelled.

Thomas slammed a lid on the pot. Patton darted forward and turned off the heat.

“Awww i wanted it to explode.” Remus pouted. 

Thomas had to sit down. 

Hopeful they would be bigger again soon.


	79. imagine bad 1

Remus was little...and he was also lost. He got lost a lot when he was little, normally this was fine. Today it wasn’t.

He was lost in his side of the imagination. Saying he was scared was putting it lightly. He was terrified. Running from things three times as big as he was and all of them with the intent to maim. 

He was hiding in the hollowed out part of an old tree crying as a large beast sniffed around for him. Luckily this was a day that Roman was fighting some of Remus’s monsters. “Back beast!” 

Remus’s head shot up. He saw Roman’s legs and bolted out tackling him. “What!...Remus?” 

“Scared!” He sobbed hugging Roman’s legs as they lay on the ground. 

“Oh well...Watch out!” Roman grabbed Remus and rolled to avoid the large claws. He put Remus down and got to his feet. “Stay here.”

He dodged an attack as he grabbed his sword. It took little time to beat the beast. He went back over to Remus who was curled up rocking back and forth a little.

“Let’s go.” He said picking the little up. 

Remus clung to him as he took him back. He won’t let go until he is in the middle of the common room. “What’s wrong with Remus?” Virgil asked.

“He got a little lost.” Roman said. 

“Well you’re safe now.” Virgil promised. Remus smiled slightly. 

He was safe.

At least..here he was.

\---

Remus stood at the entrance to the imagination. He couldn’t force himself to go in. Roman was waiting for him but...He couldn’t do it. He ended up regressed and hiding under his bed. 

Coward. Weak. crybaby. 

He was crying. Was scared. He didn’t want to go back. It was...scary.

“Remus?” Roman stuck his head in his brother’s room. He saw a foot sticking out from under the bed. “Re?”

“I...I can’t.” He was shaking. 

“What’s wrong?” Roman asked as Remus crawled into his lap. 

Remus pointed at the entrance. “Ah...I see.” 

“Sorry.” Remus said.

“No it’s ok. I’m not surprised little you is scared of it.” Roman said. 

Remus didn’t answer that Big him was scared of it too. “We’ll go another day alright?” The thought filled him with dread.

“R-right.” 

They played in the common room that day. 

A week later Remus was pacing back and forth trying to muster the courage to walk into that place again. He would get one step in before fleeing. It didn’t matter that he was in control of it now. No. He couldn’t do it.

What was wrong with him? He growled and smashed the door frame. The portal shattered. He stood panting for a second before falling to his knees in the shards. 

“Remus what was...that…” Roman asked, peeking his head in. 

Remus looked up at him. “I…” 

He sobbed. 

Roman stood there stunned.


	80. imagine bad 2

Remus sat with his leg bouncing as he waited. The door opened and Emile walked in. 

“Remus right?”

Remus snorted, “This is the best Roman can do?” 

“Your brother is worried about you.” 

“That’s a first.” Remus said. “Don’t know why. I’m fine!” He looked off at the side towards a steven universe figurine. 

“Let’s talk for awhile anyway.” Emile suggested. 

“Oh! There’s sooo many things we could discuss!” Remus said.

“Great! Let’s start with what’s on your mind at the moment!” Emile readied his pen and paper. 

“How about a zombie orgy.” Remus shot out trying to unnerve Emile. He was unfazed. 

“Really how would that work? Them being dead?” Emile asked making a note.

Remus was taken back by the interest in his idea. He took a second to find balance before jumping into it. 

Emile nodded along and asked a few questions. He showed no signs of being grossed out by anything that Remus said.

Remus was thrilled. He didn’t want it to end. 

And then it did. 

“See you this time next week?” Emile asked.

Remus hesitated. “Sooner?” 

Emile smiled, “Alright. Day after tomorrow?” 

Remus beamed. 

\---

Half way through their next session Remus regressed, “And so that’s why I think Roman is a jerk!” 

“I see.” Emiled nodded, “And have you ever thought about how it feels for him?”

Remus shifted in his seat, “...No.” 

“I’m proud of you for opening up so much.” Emile said.

Remus shifted guilty. “I...I’m scared.” 

“Of Roman?” Emile asked.

“Of...me.” Remus stared at the floor. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Emile asked.

“...No..Can we talk about something else?” Remus asked.

“Sure! What do you want to talk about?”

\---

Next time it was brought up Remus was bigger. “I...I can’t go back there.”

“The imagination.” Emile clearfield.

“Yes.” 

“Are you ready to talk about it?” Emile asked.

Remus nodded. “I...felt… scared.” 

“And?” 

“And...Lost. It was my place. I should never have been lost but..I was. I was lost and scared.” Remus said.

“That made you feel powerless.” Emile said.

“I didn’t like it.” Remus said.

“Why don’t you start small and work your way back up to going back? Start out in Roman’s side.” Emile suggested.

Remus thought about it before agreeing. 

\---

It took two months before he was ready to go back to his side. He stepped in with Roman by his side. He was shaking and bolted out again after ten steps but he made it in. 

“I ran again!” 

“But you were in there. That’s ten steps further than before. That’s progress.” Emile reminded him. 

Remus was pacing. “I...guess? I’m...tired of being scared.” 

“It takes time to overcome trauma.” Emile said. 

Remus sighed. Emile said that alot. 

\---  
Remus stood under a twisted tree within running distance of Roman’s side. He wasn’t shaking. He was...relaxed. 

“You want to go back?” Roman asked.

Remus shook his head, “No I’m...I’m ok.” 

Roman searched his face and smiled, “Good.” 

Remus smiled back.

\---

Remus was little when he bounced in the the office. “Hey! Guess what? I did it!” 

“You did?” Emile asked.

“Yeah! I was in there and wasn’t scared at all!” Remus said happily. 

“Good job!” Emile said. 

Remus giggled. He hugged Emile. “Thank you!” 

Emile beamed at him. “It’s what I’m here for.” 

Remus felt so much better. Safe again.


	81. No I DON'T 0.5

“Remus please.” Logan was rubbing his head. What was going on with him? He felt..off.

“Come on! You’ve been working for soooo long!” Remus rolled off Logan’s bed and crawled over so he could poke at him. 

“Come on.” Poke. “Come on.” poke. “Come on. Come on. Come on.” Poke poke poke.

“Remus stop it!” Logan said his voice higher. 

Poke.

Logan dropped. He was about Five. Remus stared. “Whoops..did I do that?” 

“Remus!” Logan said angry.

“Sorry sorry.” Snort. “Haha. You’re so tiny!” 

“What did you do?” 

“I didn’t do this!” Remus said. “Probably.” 

“How could you not know?” Logan asked confused.

“I just do what I do.” Remus said.

“You don’t know?” 

“Of course I do!” 

“Then how?”

“Um..well.”

“Why make me little?” 

“Ummmm.” 

“Am I really younger?” Logan asked.

“I think so?” 

“Think or know?” Logan asked.

“..know?” 

“Ok. Am I gonna be like this forever?” 

“No!...maybe..” 

“Could you do it to someone else?” 

“Ummm.” 

“What happens if you did it to yourself?” Logan asked.

“I don’t..JANUS!” Remus yelled.

Janus showed up. “What do you ...want…”

Little Logan and Janus stared at each other. 

“Remus what did you...do.” Janus was talking to the air. 

Logan huffed. “It was just a question.” 

“Why are you...nevermind.” Janus stopped after Logan glared at him. 

“I need to get back to work.” Logan said before grabbing his pen in a death grip and sticking his tongue out to focus on writing carefully. He paused, “How do you spell “Necessary?” 

“Let’s leave the work for later.” Janus suggested picking Logan up. 

“No I...what are you doing???” He demanded.

“Shhhh.” 

Logan yawned. “I...I need to work!” 

“You need rest.” 

Logan hummed his eyes half closed. Then they snapped open. “NO!” He shoved away from Janus and dropped to the ground before running off into his closet. 

“Logan.”

“Go away!” 

“Get out of the closet.” Janus sighed. 

“No! I don’t want to sleep!” Logan said.

“Why not?”

Logan muttered something. 

“What?”

“I’ll have nightmares!” 

Oh….

“What if I stay to scare off the nightmares?” Janus suggested. Logan peeked out. 

“You would?” 

“Of course.” 

Logan hummed thoughtfully. “Ok. I’ll try it.”

Janus tucked him in to bed before sitting in the corner. “No nightmares?” Logan asked his voice small. 

“No nightmares. You’re safe.” 

Logan nodded once before closing his eyes. He was out in seconds. 

He woke up a couple hours later. Still small. “No nightmares!”

“Yay.” Janus said. “Now what do you need?” 

Logan hesitated. “Hug?” 

Janus picked him up and held him. “Thank you.”

“Of course.” 

Logan didn’t mention it when he was big again. Neither did Remus or Janus. Not until it happened again….and again...again.


	82. Anxious baby 1

Virgil had been well...anxious. It was higher than normal. A lot higher. To the point he was one bad thing away from regressing. 

He was pacing as Thomas was cooking. COOKING! It was not a good idea! This was going to go wrong! He was going to get burned, and started a fire, and trip and knock himself out and-

Crash. “Whoops.”

Virgil rushed over to find a broken glass on the floor. He dropped. Thomas looked over and froze as he was met with a toddler with eye shadow. “Oh no.” 

Virgil whimpered, “Dat’s shawp! Caweful!” He said pointing at the mess.

Thomas walked away from the mess and picked Virgil up. “Um..Logan?” 

Logan popped up. “Yes what do you...ah.” 

“Can you take care of Virgil for awhile while I…” 

“NO!” Virgil had a death grip on Thomas’s shirt and started crying. “I don’t wanna go!” 

Thomas hugged, “Ok ok you don’t have to go.” 

“Stay with you! Make sure safe!” Virgil said.

Logan cleared his throat. “How about I clean up the mess?”

“Thank you.” 

“Of course.” Logan paused before patted the top of Virgil’s head then moved on. 

Thomas went over to the couch and sat down. He sat Virgil down next to him and Virgil just crawled back up on him. “Alright. Guess it’s cuddle time.”

“Safe.” Virgil repeated his wide eyes scanning the room. 

“Everybodies safe.” Thomas reassured him. 

Virgil hummed. “Gotta be sure.” 

“Should I call everybody?” Thomas asked.

“Gotta make suwe.” Virgil said nodding. 

Thomas summoned everyone. 

“Awwww.” Patton said upon seeing Virgil. Virgil scowled. 

“Sewious!” He scolded.

Patton hid his smile, “Right. Serious.”

Virgil sat in Thomas’s lap staring at all of them with the most serious expression a toddler can have. It was hard to not laugh. Remus didn’t even try not to.

Virgil ignored him though. “Evewybody is ok?” He asked.

“Yep.” Patton said.

“Not at all.” Janus answered.

“Of course Panic at the playground.” Roman said.

Remus just kept laughing. Virgil nodded, “Ok. Now shoo!” 

They left losing it on the way out. Logan walked in, “Well that’s cleaned up. I do implore you to be more careful next time.” 

“I will be.” 

Logan nodded. He waved at Virgil who waved back. “Thanks you!”

“Of course.” Logan said with a smile before leaving.

Virgil sighed. “Safe.”

“Everyone is safe.” Thomas repeated.

Virgil yawned. He leaned back against Thomas and let his eyes close. 

Thomas smiled before realizing that he was stuck here till Virgil was done sleeping.

Oh well… there were worse ways to spend an afternoon.


	83. Halloween party 1

Thomas was working on a halloween project with Roman and Janus. This left Remus In charge…

Why? 

Oh that’s simple. The other three had regressed. 

Virgil sat hugging a plush bat that was bigger than he was, Patton was standing on a stool helping Logan make cookies as Remus watched. Logan was in his early teens so technically he was still in charge, but he let Remus take the lead on activities ideas. 

Patton had his tongue stuck out as he focused on cutting out sugar cookie pumpkins and bats. “Then we put sprinkles on them.” 

“We can do that.” Logan agreed. 

Remus smiled before feeling a tap on his leg. He looked down and saw Virgil looking up at him dragging the bat on the ground behind him. He reach up so Remus picked him up. Virgil put his free hand in his mouth so Remus summoned a paci that said SPOOKY on it. He popped in in the little’s mouth.

“Tanks.” Virgil muttered around it.

“Don’t mention if bat boy!” Virgil giggled.

“I wanna paci!” Patton said.

“Aren’t you a little old for that?” Logan asked confused. 

“I think they look pretty.” Patton explained.

Remus summoned two more, one with a puppy on it the other with a beaker. “Oh no I don’t need…”

“Take it.” Remus tossed it at him. Logan sighed.

“Thank you.” He said for politeness sake before shoving it in his pocket. He might want to later….maybe.

Patton laughed, “Pupper!” He said looking at the dog on his. Looked around as he was a onesie with no pockets. Remus summoned his a paci clip. 

“Oh! Cats!” Patton said looking at the black cat halloween clip. He put his paci on it. 

They went back to making cookies. 

\--

“Are you sure they’ll like this?” thomas asked.

“Of course they will!” Roman said. 

“Remus will love it.” Janus lied. “Far too bloodless.” 

“...More blood then?” Thomas asked.

“That could work. But not too much. We don’t want to scary Patton.” Roman said.

“Oh he totally couldn’t handle it.” Janus rolled his eyes.

“More blood then!” 

\---

Remus was walking around Virgil( who was no longer regressed.)looking over his costume. “Needs...less blood.” 

“Less?” Virgil asked. 

Remus nodded and removed two of the zombie wounds. “There! Perfect!” Remus wasn’t going to admit that seeing his friend blooding, even fake, had started to get to him. 

“Alright. You’re in charge I guess.” Virgil said. 

Patton was a ghost. Logan was...myself. He decided to decline this year. He sat reading in the corner. 

“This is so much fun!” Patton said happily. 

Remus smiled before Janus and Roman walked in. Or rather rushed in. “We have something to show you!”

Janus rolled his eyes again at the excitement in Roman’s voice. He was going to end up regressed soon.

They followed them up into the real world where Thomas was. Remus was close to regressing. But he fought it off. Just had to get through the surprise.

Thomas was dressed as a monster from Remus’s own thoughts, covered in blood that looked far too real. 

“Wow!” Patton said, “That’s impressive!” 

“Well done!” Logan approved. 

“Looks real.” Virgil said.

It did! Remus’s head was swimming as his heart beat sped up. He did not like this. He didn’t like this at all!

“Remus?” Everyone was looking at him, smiling. This wasn’t good! Why are they smiling?

“It’s...great.” He had to swallow back bile.

“I didn’t think we would manage to make you speechless.” Janus said.

“Oh...Cookies. I should..go.” Remus left and stood in the kitchen talking deep breaths. He pulled the cookies out of the oven with his bare hands, the burns steading him.

They healed far too fast though.

Blood...all over him. Bleeding out..dying…

He shook his head a sob trapped in his throat made a choking sound. He cleared his throat, slapped himself in the face and went back up with the cookies. HIs smile weavered a little at seeing Thomas again so he resolved to just not look. 

“Oh thanks!” Patton said, grabbing a fresh cookie. 

“Aren’t sugar cookies better when they are cooled?” Virgil asked.

“That’s a matter of option.” Roman said. “If it means I get to eat them now, they are better warm.” 

Laughter. 

This was fine. Everything was fine. 

Till Thomas tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around. He jumped and dropped. He was surrounded! He ran and hid behind Janus’s legs, the only one other than Logan not in costume. 

Everyone froze. “Remus?” 

Remus was sobbing. Janus picked him up. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t like it!” He sobbed and hugged Janus. “Monsters!”

Janus left with him. “There, we’re safe now.”

Remus looked around and relaxed at being away from the monsters. He yawned.

“Long day?” Janus asked.

Remus paused, “sorry.”

“For what?”

“I ruined it. I was supposed to be big and In charge and I..I…” He started crying.

“Oh Remus..It’s alright.” Janus rocked him back and forth a little. 

Remus clung to him till he passed out. 

Janus put him to bed before going back up.

“Is he alright?” Thomas asked.

“He’ll be fine.” Janus said.

“We should make it up to him.” Patton said.

“Perhaps a more child friendly active tomorrow?” Logan suggested.

They all agreed.


	84. D: 1

“I don’t want to talk to you right now.” Janus said.

Virgil bit his tongue and backed off. Maybe he had gone too far. He left. Going up to see if Thomas was ok. 

“Hey Virge I...are you crying?” 

“No.” Virgil lied, pulling his hoodie up. 

“Come here buddy.” Thomas opened his arms for a hug. Virgil regressed halfway there. “What happened?”

“Jan don’t wanna talk to me.” Virgil said his voice muffled as he hid his face in Thomas’s chest.

“Why?”

“We were fightin. And I...said stuff.” Virgil confessed.

“Well I think you both need some time apart before you talk again.” Thomas said.

“I didn’t mean to be mean. I just...was.” Virgil said looking at Thomas, his eyes shining a little with tears.

“Hey it’ll be ok.” Thomas reassured him.

“Ok…” 

“You’ll talk it out later.” Thomas said.

Virgil nodded. It would be fine.

It wasn’t fine. Janus still didn’t want to talk to him after three days. Virgil tensed everything he walked past him, ignoring him completely. Until Virgil saw him at the end of the hall coming towards him and regressed.

Virgil looked up at Janus and burst out crying. “I’m sowwy!” 

Janus was stunned. He picked Virgil up. “None of that now.”

“I didn’t mean to be mean! I sowwy! Sowwy!” He sobbed.

Janus sighed. “I know. I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have put off talking to you about this.” 

Virgil looked at him miserable. “I weally sowwy.” 

“I know. I forgive you.” Janus said. “Maybe watch what you say next time.”

Virgil nodded and hugged him. 

Janus sighed a little bitter. He felt forced into forgiving Virgil. Just like always. 

Much to his surprise, Virgil changed. He was nicer, watched his tongue around Janus to the point of….paranoia. 

“We need to talk.” Janus said after two weeks of watching him get worse. 

Virgil tensed, “I’m sorry.” 

“You didn’t do anything.” Janus said, crossing his arms.

“Are you sure?” Virgil asked worriedly.

“Virgil...When I said to watch what you said. I met to lighten up, not change yourself fundamentally.” 

Virgil shifted uncomfortably. “Right…”

Janus put a hand on Virgil’s shoulder. “I don’t hate you.” 

“..I didn’t think you did.” He lied.

Janus raised an eyebrow. Virgil shifted, “Yeah...whatever.” 

After that Virgil was the one to avoid Janus.


	85. Bang bang 1

Remus was bored, so he decided to go bug Logan. He popped into the nerd’s room and was surprised to find him Regressed to early teens. 

“Oh. Hi.” Logan said laying on his bed reading a book. 

“Want to go blow something up?” Remus asked.

Normally the answer to that is no. Now however… “If you insist.” Logan said trying to hide his excitement that the idea of testing some of his more dangerous ideas.

Remus was bouncing. 

Science time. 

Remus laughed as Logan lit the fuse. They ducked behind the couch. 

“What is...AHH!” Roman covered his eyes just in time to not get blinded by the tiny explosion in a large glass jar. 

“YES!” Logan jumped up then stared at Roman.

He cleared his throat. “Ummm bye!” He sank out. Roman stormed around the couch and found Remus. 

“Hi?”

“I should have known you were behind this.” Roman crossed his arms. 

Remus jumped over the couch and took off running. A second explosion in the jar blinded Roman from following. 

Remus met up with Logan in his room. “He caught you?”

“Nah.” Remus answered. He held up his hand for a high five and Logan gave one.

Logan apologised to Roman after he snapped out of his regression.


	86. No more little (Angst size small.)

“I agree.” Logan said, causing Janus to pause in the doorway. 

“I just mean it’s weird.” Virgil said. Janus was confused about what his two Caregivers could be talking about. “I mean this from Janus? I didn’t expect it.” 

“Yes. Age regression is just…” Janus felt like he was dunked in cold water. 

“Lo.” Virgil said. Logan looked up to see Janus.

“How long have you been standing there?” Virgil asked.

Janus’s throat tightened. “Long enough.”

Virgil and Logan looked at each other. “So you agree?”

That age regression was weird? “I suppose I do.” 

Virgil nodded, “Alright then.” 

“I guess I’ll stop then.” Janus said. Logan and Virgil were relieved. But quickly became confused when Janus turned and walked away. 

“..He didn’t misunderstand that we wanted him to stop putting off his regression...right?” Virgil asked.

Logan shook his head, “Janus is smarter than that.”

\---

Janus was busy throwing away his stuff when Virgil went to check on him. 

“Janus? What are you doing?” Virgil asked slowly.

“Cleaning.” He answered shortly.

“...With a garbage bag?” It didn’t slip past Virgil that most of the items going into that bad were his little gear.

“That is what you do with trash.” Janus said sharply.

Virgil sighed, “I think there’s been a misunderstanding.” 

“Oh?” 

“We want you to regress more. You need it.” Virgil said.

Janus froze. “What?”

“Yeah. I knew something was up.” Virgil muttered under his breath. “I mean it’s not healthy for you to keep pushing it off over and over till you have to!” 

“I’m busy.” Janus excused. Even to him that was weak.

“Mister take time for yourself is too busy?” Virgil crossed his arms. 

Janus dropped the bag, “Sorry.” He said half in little space. Getting scolded did that.

“It’s ok. We just want you to take care of yourself.” Virgil said gently. 

Janus hugged him and nodded, “Ok. I promise.” 

Virgil smiled. “Good.”


	87. No more little (Angst size large.)

“I agree.” Logan said, causing Janus to pause in the doorway. 

“I just mean it’s weird.” Virgil said. Janus was confused about what his two Caregivers could be talking about. “I mean this from Janus? I didn’t expect it.” 

“Yes. Age regression is just…” Janus felt like he was dunked in cold water. 

“Lo.” Virgil said. Logan looked up to see Janus.

“How long have you been standing there?” Virgil asked.

Janus’s throat tightened. “Long enough.”

Virgil and Logan looked at each other. “So you agree?”

That age regression was weird? “I suppose I do.” 

Virgil nodded, “Alright then.” 

“I guess I’ll stop then.” Janus said. Logan and Virgil were relieved. He could see it. 

Janus walked off. He tried to shove the pain down. It’s weird rang through his head. 

Well, he could fix that. If they didn’t want to be there for him then he didn’t need them!

He locked his door and let himself drop. He wanted so badly to open the door and go get them. “Don’t be a bother.” He scolded himself. He stayed there till the next morning. 

“Good morning.” Patton greeted him. 

“Yes.” Janus said, pouring himself a cup of coffee. 

“I thought you didn’t drink coffee?” Patton said, confused.

Janus shrugged, “Trying new things.” 

“Oooh! Fun!” Patton said. Janus shrugged again and took a sip. Bitter. 

Virgil walked in, he looked like he hadn’t slept. He looked at Janus, “Are you drinking coffee?”

“No.” He lied.

“Why?” Virgil asked.

“Change of pace.” Janus said stiffly.

Virgil looked at him confused but nodded. “Just don’t turn into Lo.” 

Janus choked a little on that. “Would dream of it.” He spat before walking off. 

Patton and Virigl looked at each other. “Someone is grumpy.” Patton muttered.

“Yeah…” Virgil said. 

Janus was still short tempered throughout the rest of the day. Only to Logan and Virgil though. 

“Alright what is going on with you?” Virgil asked, cornering him, Logan standing next to him.

Janus looked at his gloved hand, “I have no idea what you mean.” He lied.

“You’ve been upset all day. Why?” Logan asked.

“Why do you care?” Janus shot back.

“Why wouldn’t we care?” Virgil replied.

Janus looked at them. “I think you’ve made your feelings clear.” He said before storming off.

He slammed his door shut. 

“It’s weird.” 

Weird. Weird. Weird.

His hand moved up to brush against the scales on his face. Weird.

He took a deep breath. This was fine. He could handle this. 

He didn’t need regression. Or them. 

He didn’t need anyone. 

He could handle this. 

Alone.


	88. A blurble cuz I read some angst and I freaking couldn't not write something short and fluffy. :-:

Roman wasn’t feeling great. Well...that was an understatement. He felt awful. He just wanted a hug. Maybe regressing? 

He shook his head. He had to focus! He had work to get down!

“Roman?” Patton asked, sticking his head in. 

“Hmm?” He didn’t look up. Had to keep working. 

“You missed supper so I brought you a plate.” Patton said walking in. 

“Yes. Thank you.” Roman said, finally looking up. Patton paused as he saw Roman’s tired face.

“Alright. That’s enough work for today.” 

“I’m almost done I just have to…” 

“Kiddo.” Patton scolded. 

Roman dropped. He hunched his shoulders, “Sorry.” 

Patton noticed. “Alright. How about a movie while you eat dinner?” 

“Mkay!” Roman agreed quickly. 

“Roman?” Patton said as Roman started to leave.

“Yeah?” He turned back around and got a hug.

“I’m proud of you.” 

“Thanks.” Roman said. 

He was content.


	89. twin scare 1

There was something under his bed. He knew it. Roman was terrified. He kept seeing the edge of something moving. Then a tentacle moved in front of his face and he screamed. 

His door burst open. Logan and Virgil looked around. “What’s wrong?” 

“Boogeyman!” Roman said regressed and scared. 

“Boogyman?” Virgil asked.

“There is no such thing.” Logan said. “It was just a nightmare.” 

“Check?” Roman whimpered.

They looked at each other. “I’ll take the closet.” Logan said.

Virgil went to check under the bed. “Huh...guess there is one.” He said as he pulled out a tired toddler Remus. 

“RE?” 

Remus blinked and looked around. “Where Dee?” 

“Why were you under Roman’s bed?” Logan asked.

“Got scare.” Remus said before yawning. “Gotta hid.” 

“Well no one needs to be scared anymore.” Virgil said. “Let’s get you back to Janus.” 

Roman shifted on his bed. “He could stay?” 

“Do you want to stay?” Virgil asked Remus.

Remus shook his head. 

Roman’s face dropped. “Oh...ok.” 

“I’ll stay to make sure there aren’t anymore boogymonsters.” Logan said.

Roman’s face lit up. “Thank you!” 

Virgil laughed a little, “Come on Remus. Janus is probably looking for you.” 

Remus hummed. 

Janus was indeed looking for him. “Where was he?” He asked taking the almost asleep toddler.

“Under Roman’s bed.” Virgil said. “Scared him a bit.” 

Janus snorted. Then cleared his throat. “Yes well...let’s avoid that next time.”


	90. D: 2

Virgil was still keeping his distance from Janus and everyone else was getting concerned.

“This is going on way too long.” Roman said.

“Agreed.” Logan said. 

“But what do we do to help?” Patton asked.

“I have an idea…” Roman said.

Two hours later Virgil and Janus are both locked in a closet together. 

Virgil was banging on the door, “ROMAN I SWEAR OPEN THIS DOOR!” 

“Not till you two talk!” Roman yelled back.

Virgil growled and kicked the door before turning. Janus watched him with an amused expression. “What?” He snapped.

“Just nice to see you with a bit of bite in your voice again.” 

“Yeah? I thought you hated that.” Virgil crossed his arms. 

“I dislike the amount of times it is aimed at me.” Janus said.

Virgil thought that over. “I’m sorry.” 

“Mmm.” 

“That’s all you have to say?” Virgil said.

“I believe that if you are done avoiding me then we can move on.” Janus said.

“I wasn’t…” Virgil scowled. “Alright fine. Whatever.” 

“Roman? You hear that? You can let us out now.” Janus said.

Roman thought about it. “I don’t think you’ve really talked about it.” 

“Roman Let us out!” Janus snapped.

Virgil laughed. “You should listen to him.” 

Roman unlocked the door. 

“Great. Next time you want to help…” Virgil said. “Don’t.”

“Agreed.” Janus said.

Roman fought to keep the smile from his face. “It did work though.” 

“Don’t push it.” Virgil said drily.


	91. Dream or not? 2

Roman woke up words ringing through his head in Virgil’s voice, “I wouldn’t miss you! No one would!” 

He sobbed as he hugged himself. It was fake! It was fake! It had to be! There was a knock on his door. “Roman?” Patton asked. “Are you alright?” 

“F-fine!” He called back. 

Patton opened the door. “Oh...nightmare?” 

“I-I think?...Was Logan right?” Roman muttered mostly to himself. 

“About you being absolutely useless?” Patton said with a smile. “Yes he was.” 

\----

Roman bolted upright in bed. 

This can not keep happening! “I’ll just not sleep.” 

He went to get some coffee to help stay awake. He ran into Logan. “Oh.”

“Are you alright?” Logan asked dark circles around his eyes as he refilled his coffee. 

“You’re still up working?” Roman asked, still hugging himself. 

Logan stared at him for a long time before gesturing for Roman to sit down. Logan sat down across from him. “Nightmares?”

Roman shivered, “Why won’t they stop?” 

“I believe it is due to your own fears and insecurities.” Logan said softly. 

“So how do I fix it!” Roman wanted this over with. 

Logan thought about it. He stared into his coffee mug. “I don’t know.” 

Roman’s heart sank. “Oh.” 

“We will figure this out.” Logan promised. 

“When?” Roman asked, “Soon?” 

“Ah...hopefully.” Logan said.

It wasn't the next day. Or the next...or the next.

Roman rarely slept and he was running himself into the ground keeping busy. “You need a nap!” Patton said firmly with Virgil by his side.

“No. I need to figure this out!” Roman said.

“We’ll be here the whole time.” Virgil said.

Roman yawned and relinted. He woke up screaming and sobbing. Virgil and Patton didn’t try to make him sleep again. 

Logan spent as much time as he could studying and was getting less sleep than Roman was. 

Then Roman regressed.

“Lo?” He asked peeking in.

“No I haven’t figured it out yet!” Logan snapped.

Roman flinched. He dropped his eyes to the ground. “Sorry.” Logan looked up and internally cursed himself. 

“It’s alright. I didn’t mean to yell. Do you want to come in?” Logan asked.

Roman inched his way into the room. His eyes down the whole time, as if expecting to be yelled at again. “I’m tired.” 

“I know.” Logan said, “I am too.” 

“Oh...Sorry.” Roman turned to leave.

“Do you want to take a nap in here while I work?” Logan asked.

“Can I?” He asked in a small voice that hurt to hear.

“Of course.” Logan said softly. 

Roman crawled up onto Logan’s bed and layed down. He watched Logan work for a while before drifting off. 

Before long he started whimpering in his sleep. Logan paused and thought of something to try. He walked over and ran his hand through Roman’s hair. “I’m proud of you. We all are.” 

The whimpering stopped as Logan muttered more comforting words to him. Logan sat on the edge of the bed at first. Then ended up laying down, then drifted off to sleep himself. 

Roman woke up hours later well rested for the first time in weeks. He blinked as he saw that Logan had fallen asleep as well. 

He couldn’t help but feel guilty as he had been the one to over work his friend. 

“You’re a burden.” Logan’s voice said. 

Then something strange happened. Logan’s voice spoke again.

“I’m proud of you.” 

Wait….what?

“Proud of...me?” Roman muttered. That wasn’t in the script of things that his head told them that they would say. 

He waited till Logan woke up to mention the difference. 

“Yes It appears that hearing me talk to you in your sleep negated the nightmares.” Logan said.

“..You meant it?” Roman asked.

“Meant what?” Logan asked.

“That you were proud of me?” Roman’s voice cracked a little.

“Yes.” Logan said, “Of course I’m proud of you.” 

Roman smiled, “Thank you.” 

Logan smiled back. 

Roman slept better after that. He still had nightmares but they weren’t every night. The others wrote him a list of what they thought were the best things about him. Something he kept near him when he slept so he could read it if he needed to. 

He was singing again as he walked in after two weeks of sleep. 

“Feeling better?” Patton asked.

“Much better. Thank you..all of you.” Roman said looking around at them.

“Blah. I’m out. Too much emotion.” Virgil said with a slight smile. 

Patton caught him in a hug before he could go. “Ah noooo affection! My weakness!” 

Roman laughed.


	92. cry 1

He was small and scared, but he couldn’t show that. So he put on a brave face and rose up with his normal pose. His smile off but no one noticed. No one even saw him enter.

Janus was the only one that looked at him. He sent him a glare before moving on. That made him feel worse. But he could do this! Then he could go back to bed. 

“Anything is add Roman?” Logan asked.

Ah..what were they talking about. 

“Ah..no.” Roman said.

That was apparently the wrong answer. 

“Now Roman are you sure you don’t have something you want to say to Janus?” Patton asked.

He was starting to panic and Virgil could feel it. “If you don’t want to say sorry that bad just leave!” He snapped.

Roman blinked back tears before sinking out. Janus’s glare shifted into a confused glance at his face. 

Sorry? Why would he be sorry? He threw himself onto the bed and curled up. 

There was a knock at the door. “Roman?” Janus peeked his head in.

“I’m sorry.” Roman sobbed. 

It didn’t take long for Janus to figure out what was going on. “You’re feeling small?” He asked gently, sitting down. 

Roman nodded, “I tried...But I don’t know what was happen.” 

“I see.” Janus said.

Roman shrunk in on himself. “Sorry.” 

“It’s alright.” Janus sighed. “I was hoping we would settle this when we both in a more..adult head space.” 

Roman frowned as he thought about it. Then.. “Oh...I was mean.”

“You were.” 

“I’m sorry.” Roman said guilty. “A-pol-ges.”   
Janus’s lips twitched at that. “Accepted.”

Roman sniffed as his tears stopped. “I really am.” 

Janus pulled him into a hug, “I know.” 

They stayed like that for a while. “I suppose I should go tell the others that everything is fine now.”

Roman frowned but let him go. As Janus closed the door a worm of doubt and fear entered his mind. 

Not good enough. 

Well wasn’t that his life story?

He got up and scrubbed the tears from his face. He messed up but he had to make it better. 

How did he do that?

He paused unsure. He knew that Janus wanted to talk to big him. So how does he make himself be not small?

He tried for a couple hours before giving up. 

“You ok in here?” Patton asked peeking his head in. 

Roman was laying face down on the floor. “No.”

“What’s wrong?” Patton asked.

“I mess up everything! And I can’t fix it! Jan wants big me! But I can’t…” Roman trailed off and groaned. 

“Well we can figure something out.” Patton promised. 

Roman looked up at him and gave him a thumbs up. “Thanks.”

He sat up, “I don’t know what to do.”

“Well it normally wears off on its own. Why not wait?” Patton asked.

Roman frowned, “I...but Jan...Was upset and…” 

“Give yourself time too.” 

“It really is ok now.” Janus said from the doorway.

Roman sighed. “Then why do I feel bad still?” 

“Because you care.” Patton said.

“It will ease.” Janus said. 

“Mkay.”

He really hoped so.


	93. fearful 1

Virgil didn’t regress. That would be ridiculous. He needed to be on guard. He had to be ready at any moment. So maybe there was a reason he was cranky all the time so what? He had a job to do. 

So he rose up, listened to everyone argue. Fight the flight part of his brain. Snapped and insulted. 

“Alright you are worse than normal.” Roman said crossing his arms.

“Maybe I’m just trying to do my job!” Virgil snapped at him. 

“Well can you do it a little nicer?” Patton asked.

“Yes you are being overly hostile.” Logan said.

Virgildropped. He sunk out. 

He landed on his bed and pulled the blankets around him. “Stupid.” He muttered to himself.

It was about fifteen minutes before all of them including Thomas rose up into his room. He covered his head. 

“Virgil?” Patton asked.

“No.” He said.

“Look this is a bit of an extreme reaction to this.” Roman said. “I mean ducking out just because we don’t agree-”

Virgil peeked out at him, “What? I not do that.” 

“Why are you talking like that?” Logan asked.

Virgil hid under the covers again. “Go away.” 

“Not until we know what’s going on.” Thomas said. 

Virgil peeked out again. “Later. Go now?” 

They looked at each other. “Alright.”

They left. He took a breath. 

\---

“So..ready to talk?” Roman asked as he rose up an hour later.

Virgil shifted uncomfortably. “Right..so...I um...I can’t believe I’m gonna say this..I age regress...Not like I want to! It just...happens.” 

There was a moment of silence following that. 

He almost left before Logan spoke up, “That does make sense. Age regression is often used as a coping mechanism for Anxiety.” 

“Right..well...I do that. So sorry. I’ll try to not do it again.” Virgil said.

“Hold on.” Thomas said, “Didn’t you just say this was for coping? Like, healthy?” 

“Yes. It is a healthy way of dealing with stress.” Logan said.

“So why stop?” Thomas asked.

“You’re kidding right?” Virgil said, “You thought I ducked out. You clearly couldn’t feel me.” 

“That is...a problem.” Logan said.

“So he just stops.” Roman said. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

Virgil shifted, He didn’t like any of this. Regressing wasn’t something he liked but...having someone else tell him not to do it…

“A buildup of stress to the point of causing damage.” Logan said.

“So I find a different coping method.” Virgil said.

“Are you sure you want to?” Patton asked. “I mean age regression is...sounds like something that is helpful.” 

“It is.” Virgil admitted. “But..I don’t want to have to deal with it.” He lied. “Besides it gets in the way of my protecting Thomas so I’ll figure this out.”   
He would. He had too.


	94. fearful 2

Patton locked the door before sitting down on his bed. Virgil’s decision about not regressing anymore made him feel bad about his own regression. That it was ...bad.

He curled up and sighed deeply. Maybe he should stop too. 

So he did. 

A week passed before they all got summoned. “Guys I do not feel good.” Thomas said.

“What’s wrong?” Roman asked.

“Like...I’m all...off.” 

“That is frustratingly vague.” Logan said. 

“Is it because of me?” Virgil and Patton asked at the same time. Then looked at each other.

“Why would it be you?” 

Patton shifted, “No reason.” 

“Patton I didn’t...freak you out with my…” Virgil said awkward. 

“No! No not at all. I just..I.” Patton cleared his throat. “I was just wondering if maybe...not regressing is a good idea...for you!” 

“We don’t completely understand what effects it causes when you do it. It could be beneficial.” Logan said.

Virgil looked at him. “Really? I don’t think…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Fine whatever! What do you want to do?” 

“Why don’t we try you regressing in a controlled environment and see what happens?” Logan suggested. 

“I don’t know.” Virgil shifted.

“We will be there the whole time!” Roman promised.

“That’s what I’m worried about.” Virgil muttered. 

Patton didn’t say anything. So it was bad but now it was good? 

“Patton?” Thomas asked, pulling him out of his thoughts. Patton looked around to find everyone else left.

“Oh sorry. Just….” He trailed off as he left. 

He sat down in the kitchen staring at nothing. That nagging feeling was bugging him, begging him to let go. 

Virgil sat down next to Patton, “You ok pops?” 

“Of course.” Patton lied.

Virgil hummed. He looked down. “I’m not Janus. But I do pick up when someone is lying.”

Patton winced. “I…”

“It’s alright. It is really freaky. You don’t have to pretend it isn’t.” Virgil said. 

Patton stood up slamming his hands on the table, “I regress ok?” 

Virgil stared at him in shock. 

Patton kept going, “I regress! And It’s healthy! It isn’t weird! OR freaky!” 

Virgil blinked, “I didn’t...know that...I mean I’m sorry I-”

“Save it.” Patton said suddenly tired. He took a breath. “You were just….being honest.”

“What’s going on?” Roman asked, “I heard yelling?”

“It’s fine.” Patton said. 

“We were just having a discussion.” Virgil said.

“A loud one.” Roman said before leaving. Patton sat down again. He put his head in his hands. 

“Hey Pat it’s ok.” 

“No.” Patton said in a hollow tone, “I can’t stop messing up. I thought stopping regressing would help.”

“You...stopped?” Virgil said.

“You thought it was so bad and I just…” 

Guilt ate at Virgil. “It’s weird and bad for ME not YOU.” 

“Why would it be different for you?” Patton asked.

Virgil opened his mouth to reply but realized that he didn’t have anything to say. 

\---

Virgil took a nervous breath as they all looked at him. He was wearing his onesie and was sitting cross legged on the couch. “So I just...ok.” 

“We won’t judge you.” Roman promised. 

Virgil took another breath as the others agreed. He focused on that feeling he always repressed and let it out. 

He started biting on his nail. Patton gave him a pacifier. Virgil blushed but took it. 

“Better?” Patton asked.

Virgil nodded. Patton had to stop himself from clapping. Virgil’s eyes drooped and he hugged a pillow to his chest. 

“Is..that it?” Roman whispered to Logan. 

“I suppose?” Logan replied. 

Patton was busy trying to NOT regress himself. Something he was failing at. 

“I should go…” He tried to leave when Virgil grabbed his sleeve.

“Sthay?” He asked around the paci.

Patton sat down next to him. “Mkay.” He said half regressed.

Virgil cuddled up to him. Patton giggled. “Awww.” 

“Padre? You feeling alright?” Roman asked.

Patton snapped out of his regression. “Yes.” He hadn’t noticed his fingers had drifted to his mouth. 

Roman and Logan shared a look. “Patton do you regress as well?”

Patton looked down and nodded. Roman summoned another pacifier. “Would you like this?”

“Please?” Patton said.

Roman didn’t hand it over, Instead he popped it in Patton’s mouth before booping his nose. Patton giggled dropping.

“Guess we have two people to watch.” Logan said.

“Indeed.” Roman agreed a bit excited over the idea.

\---

“I feel…..great.” Thomas admitted as Logan went to check on him. 

Patton and Virgil were both taking naps. 

“Relaxed.” 

“That is good.” Logan said, making a note. “I will inform both of them that Regressing is not harmful.” 

Thomas nodded as Logan left but… “Wait...both?”


	95. shopping trip

Janus didn’t expect everyone to immediately accept him. But everyone being overly hostile was unnecessary. He winced as Virgil hissed at him as he sat down. If anyone saw it they didn’t say anything.

Then Patton came in. “Shopping!” 

“Shopping?” Logan asked.

“Shopping!” Roman agreed. 

“Ugh..why?” Virgil asked.

“Because it’s fun, doom and gloom.” Roman replied.

“Yeah we can all go!” Patton said.

Janus didn’t get up as the other’s did. Then. “Janus...you coming?” 

“What?” Roman asked. “Why would he be invited?”

“Well It’s rude not to.” Patton said.

Janus’s hopes were crushed under that. OF course. He didn’t really want him around. He was just being polite. “Ah..no.” 

“So You think you can just ditch?” Virgil asked, crossing his arms.

Virgil clearly didn’t want him along, but he was also not going to let Patton get upset. 

“Well...I suppose I’m not doing anything-”

“Great. Get up.” Virgil said.

Janus rolled his eyes and stood. 

“Honestly how bad can he be?” Virgil muttered to Roman who nodded.

Janus dropped. Patton turned around to see if he was ready and saw him gone. “Oh.”

\---

Thomas was sitting on the couch when he felt something next to him. At first he assumed it was Patton regressed again as it was a child. But then he took a closer look. “Dec- Janus?” 

Janus burst out crying. Thomas pulled him into a hug. “What happened?”

“I-I as...den tay all…..no ike me.” Janus sobbed.

Thomas summoned the others. “What do you...need…” Logan’s voice trailed off as they all looked at Janus who whimpered under their stares.

Patton dropped. 

He ran over and climbed up the couch to be closer. “Hey. Don’t cry.”

Janus looked him up and down. “You small?” Janus said tears forgotten.

“Yeah!” Patton said, “You even smaller. That makes you my little brother.”

“Weally?” 

“Yeah!” Patton offered him a hug which Janus took. 

Patton looked up at Virgil and Roman, “You have to say sorry now.”

“We’re sorry...janus.” Roman said.

“Sorry.” Virgil said.

Patton nodded and patted Janus’s head. “See? It’s better now.”

Janus stuck his thumb in his mouth and nodded. Logan saw that and summoned a paci. “Would this be better?” He asked.

Janus took it.

“You gotta say thanks.” Patton said. 

“Tanks” Janus said.

“Now. Shopping!” Patton said.

“Shopping?” Thomas looked at them confused.

“Don’t ask.” Virgil said. (Because I don’t know how this is suppose to work so just roll with it.)

“I’ll carry Janus if that is alright. I believe it will be safer.” Logan said. Janus reached for him.

“Ahbahnana.” Janus babbled around his paci.

Roman took Patton’s hand and they sunk out Leaving Thomas to stare off into space wondering how the heck all of this works. 

Logan carried Janus the hold trip. Janus happily babbled at him. To which he responded as if Janus had said words instead of nonsense. 

Patton was very proud of all of them for making up but knew he was going to have to be more careful with his baby brother in the future. Keep a better eye on him so he didn’t feel so sad ever again.


	96. park play

“Why did I agree to this?” Logan muttered.

“Because you care about all of us.” Emile said.

Logan kept muttering but silently slid his hand into Emile’s. Emile smiled but made no comment.

They both watched as the Littles played on the playground. Roman was standing at the top of the slide, Virgil was softly swinging with Patton pushing him. Remus and Janus were playing tag.

“Roman play with us!” Remus yelled.

“No! You cheat!”   
“How do you cheat at tag?” Janus scoffed.

“You would find a way!” Roman called back.

“Daaaaads.” Remus whined turning to face the bench Logan and Emile were sitting on. 

“Not your father.” Logan said as Emile started laughing. 

“He doesn’t have to play if he doesn’t want to...son.” Emile said.

Logan looked at him, betrayed. “Don’t encourage this!” 

“Fiiiiiinnneeee.” Remus said before jumping over and tagging Janus while he wasn’t looking. 

Janus sputtered and ran after him. 

Virgil pointed to them, “We play too?”

Patton frowned, “I don’t know. They are playing kinda rough.” Worried about his little brother’s safety.

Virgil nodded. “Play with you?” 

“You want to play tag with me?” 

“YEah!” 

Patton beamed. “Ok! Roman you want to play tag with us!” 

“Ok!” He slid down.

Remus looked over, “Hey! No fair!” Janus tagged him. “HEY!” 

Patton, Virgil, and Roman all played a very dulled down game of tag. While Remus and Janus switched to tackled tag. 

Everything was ok.

Till Janus accidentally tackled Virgil. They both hit the ground and Virgil started crying. 

“Oh no. I’m sorry.” Janus said awkwardly as he tried to help Virgil up.

“Don’t touch him!” Patton pushed Janus out of the way before kneeling down next to Virgil.

Janus fell into Roman who caught him. “You ok?”

Janus blinked back tears. “I didn’t mean to.” 

“Is everyone ok?” Emile asked as he and Logan walked over. 

“He hurt V!” Patton yelled pointing at Janus who started crying. 

“I didn’t mean to!” 

Virgil was still crying as well.

“Alright. Accidents happen.” Logan said. “Let’s go back home and get everyone patched up.” 

No one was excited about that, but they agreed. 

Patton was more mad at Janus than Virgil was. Virgil had to get a bandage for his elbow but other than that was unharmed. 

“I’m sorry.” Janus said again.

“We don’t want to talk to you.” Patton said putting an arm around Virgil who was confused.

“Patton. Be nice.” Emile said.

“He hurt him!” 

“And he’s saying sorry. Can’t you see Janus feels bad about it?” 

Patton really looked at Janus. He sighed, “Ok fine.”

Janus gave Virgil one of his stuffies and left. Patton looked at Virgil hugging the stuffie for awhile before he felt bad for yelling. 

He would say sorry in a little bit. After Virgil was really fine.


	97. cupcakes 1

This was a great idea. Everyone getting together and making cupcakes. It was a fun family activity! Patton was excited.

Then Remus, Virgil, and Roman regressed. 

So that would make it even more fun right?

“STOP TRYING TO LIGHT THEM ON FIRE!” Logan yelled.

Janus picked up Remus as he laughed holding a flaming Cupcake. Virgil scoffed as he regressed to early teens and used the fire extinguisher and put out the fire while covering Janus and Remus with white fire stuff. (I have no idea what that stuff is called. ;-;)

Remus started eating it.

“You don’t eat it!” Roman yelled.

Remus growled at him. 

“Be nice,” Janus and Patton said at the same time. 

“Well at least he only burned one.” Logan said.

“I will escape your grip sometime snake man!” Remus yelled struggling.

Janus sighed heavily.

Patton took Remus. “You go get cleaned up I’ll take care of the arsonist.” 

“Thank you.” Janus said walking off.

Patton had to get Virgil’s help to clean Remus off. “No! I wanna eat it!” 

“You aren’t eating it.” Patton said firmly.

“Plllfffffft!” 

“Not nice.” 

“Ugh. did you just lick me?” Virgil asked.

Remus laughed.

Logan was busy with Roman in the kitchen. Roman was carefully decorating his cupcake. He was having fun at least. He snuck bites of frosting when he thought Logan wasn’t looking. Logan knew he was doing this and just didn’t say anything.

Janus came back in clean clothing and looked over to see Roman finishing up his castle design on the cupcake. “Very well done.” 

Roman beamed. 

“Did we miss anything?” Patton asked as he returned with Remus and Virgil.

“I’m done!” Roman said, “Can I go play something else now?” 

Patton regretted not being here but wasn’t going to make Roman stay. “Sure kiddo.” 

Roman ran off and Virgil quietly volunteered to go watch him. “What about your cupcake?” 

“I’m not really in the mood.” Virgil said waking out.

“I should get back to work.” Logan said.

“Remus needs a nap.” Janus said taking the little. 

“Oh..yes...right.” Patton said as they left.

He looked around at the mess of a kitchen. 

Guess he had some cleaning to do. Wish he could get rid of the disappointed feeling as easily as left over frosting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This...ended not how I expected. ;-;


	98. cupcakes 2

Patton wanted cupcakes. The problem? He was little. It was the middle of the night and no one else was up.

The solution? Make himself some cupcakes.

Logan wasn’t sleeping yet when he heard a clatter downstairs. He looked over at his door confused before going to check it out.

“Patton? What are you doing?” He asked.

“I want cupcakes.” Patton said trying to mix batter together that most certainly was not cupcake batter….or edible.

“It’s the middle of the night. You need to be sleeping.” Logan said gently.

Patton’s excitement faded. “But...I wanted to…”

“I know but now is not the time.” Logan said.

That was the wrong thing to say.

“Never the right time.” Patton grumbled, “Always busy. Never really want to help. No one likes playing with me.” 

“That’s not it. It’s bedtime now.” Logan said.

Patton sniffed, “Stupid.” He ran off. Logan sighed before he set about cleaning up the mess. After he finished he went to check and see if Patton was in bed.

Patton was sitting on the edge of his bed shredding up paper. 

“Patton it is time to sleep.” Logan said tired.

Patton shrugged, “Almost done.” 

“What are you doing? It’s making a mess.” Logan said. 

He walked over and grabbed a paper that Patton hadn’t gotten to yet. It was a list of things that he wanted to do. Fun activities and such.

“Why are you tearing these up?” Logan asked taking the two remaining pages so Patton couldn’t shred them.

“It’s all stupid! Cupcakes and and sleep overs and all this stuff! No one wants to do this with me! Not really!” Patton yelled.

“It isn’t stupid.” Logan said.

“What’s going on?” Virgil asked from the doorway.

Patton huffed. “It’s stupid.” 

Logan cleared his throat. “He seems to think we don’t like spending time with him because I won’t let him make cupcakes at midnight.” 

“Isn’t that a bit late pat?” Virgil asked.

Patton teared up, “No! You don’t get it! You NEVER wanna do stuff! You all are always too busy!” 

“We made cupcakes the other day.” Virgil said.

“No you left! And and...it’s stupid.” Patton pulled his knees to his chest.

Virgil hugged Patton, “Look sometimes...I mean. We can all be really busy.” 

“Always busy.” Patton pushed him away and crawled under his covers.

“Pat.”

“GOOD NIGHT!” 

Logan and Virgil looked at each before they left. 

Patton was back to normal in the morning. He apologized for his outburst the pervious night. 

“No You don’t have to say sorry. We were the ones who haven’t been making time for you.” Virgil said.

“It doesn’t matter.” Patton said. “I’m just being silly.”

“Needing companionship isn’t silly.” Logan said, “It’s healthy.”

“I see you all the time! We don’t have to do my dumb ideas.” Patton said.

“They aren’t dumb.” Roman said having been caught up to date before Patton got up. “They are fun things that we would all love to do.”

“When?”

No one had an answer to that.


	99. sweet tooth

Logan had a sweet tooth. He fought it of course. It wasn’t healthy and it was not something he needed to waste time with. 

He just let himself cheat just a little bit with jam. Only one jam. That was it. Only one that he only got some when he needed a sugar boost to work better. Very very strict rules that he stuck to like glue. 

He relied on those rules. So when he couldn’t follow those rules...he got upset.

He was panicking and dropping into Little space very very quickly. He had looked everywhere but his last jar of Crofters was gone. Vanished. He KNEW that he didn’t eat it!

He rubbed tears out of his eyes. No no no he could fix this!

“Logan?” Janus asked, surprised at all the open cupboards and a very panicked Little. 

“I can’t find it! I need it!” He was breathing fast. 

“Need what?” Janus had a sinking feeling he knew what he was looking for. 

“JAM!” Logan yelled. 

Oh...Janus held out the jam he had borrowed. “This?”

“YOU got IT?” Logan yelled, running over and grabbed it. 

“Yes...sorry.” 

“It’s….ok. I just got haves it to work.” Logan said. 

“Oh?” Janus asked.

Logan opened it and grabbed a spoon. “Yes. And Now i can work again.” 

“I think you should wait till you are bigger again.” Janus suggested.

Logan looked down at himself. “Oh..yeah...thats a good idea.”

\---

Roman watched as Logan ate Jam straight from the jar. “Should he be doing that?”

“It isn’t weirder than anything you do Princy.” Virgil said.

“Weird? What do I do that’s weird?” Roman demanded.

“Everybody calm down. Just..let’s chill out. Cool.” Patton said.

“No. He’s called me weird.” 

“You are a little weird.” Janus said.

“Bah! You..! HEY!” 

Logan laughed at Roman’s stuttering. Roman found himself smiling anger forgotten. 

Janus made sure to not take the last jar again.


	100. lost in the woods 1

Roman was small. Virgil was even smaller. They were playing on Roman’s side of the imagination. Roman was making butterflies and bubbles for Virgil as the rest of them were having a picnic. 

Logan was reading a book, Janus was taking a nap in the sun, Patton was trying to get Remus to stop eating the napkins. All of them were too busy to notice how far the two littles were getting from the picnic spot until Remus shivered and snapped his head to the left looking towards his side of the imagination. 

The littles were gone.

Roman was staring around in amazement and Virgil was holding his big brother’s hand in fear of the scary stuff in the trees. But Roman was too busy looking at the three eyed monsters to notice till something swooped down closer to them and Virgil screaming and hugged Roman’s arm crying.

Roman looked down, “It’s ok V. It was just a bird!” 

“It’s scary!” Virgil cried.

“Kinda? It’s just Remus’s stuff! It’s not so bad if you are careful.” Roman said, “And I know you are super careful.”

“....I am?” 

“You are!” Roman said.

Virgil took a deep breath, “Ok.” He whispered. 

Roman paused and looked back. At this point was when he noticed that they were lost. Ok. No panic. Just got to retrace their steps. 

If only it wasn’t a labyrinth.

“Remus, are you sure they are in there?” Patton asked, looking at the dark woods. 

“I’m sure.” remus said.

“How dangerous is it in there?” Logan asked.

“Knowing Remus? Very.” Janus said.

“Well we need to stick together and keep an eye out.” Remus said seriously.

They all nodded and set off into the woods.

Roman was starting to panic but he had to be brave for Virgil. “I wanna go home.” Virgil said.

Roman made a small sword and handed it to Virgil. “There.” He pulled out his own sword, “Now we are safer.” 

Virgil nodded, “Safe.”

Roman really really hoped so.

Remus could sense about where the two were but the trees were too thick to see through very far. Still, “They are close.”

“How close?” Patton said.

“Over there.” Remus said pointing behind them.

“We were just there.” Janus said.

“Well we go back.” Logan said.

“They can’t be-”

They heard Virgil scream. They took off running. 

They found him at the top of a cliff that wasn’t there before. He was kneeling at the edge looking over it. “Ro!” 

Remus pulled Virgil back as Janus looked over the edge. Roman wasn’t in sight. 

“Is he?” 

“He’s down there.” Remus confirmed. 

“How do we get down to get him?” Patton asked.

“I’ll get him.” Remus said, “You get Virgil out.” 

“Alright.” Janus said, picking up Virgil. 

“I’m going with you.” Logan said.

Remus looked him over before nodding. He made a door for the others to get out through before jumping over the Cliff taking Logan with him. “That’s not whAT I MEANT!” 

They landed in water at the bottom. “Roman!” Remus yelled as he looked around.

Roman was sitting at the base of a tree near the edge of the pool of water soaking wet and shivering. 

“Roman! Are you ok?” Remus asked.

Roman was crying. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to! I just...I wanted to see! And and V got scared! And then we were lost!”

Remus picked him up. “It’s ok now.” 

“Are you hurt anywhere?” Logan asked.

“I swallowed water.” Roman said, “It hurt my throat.” 

“It’ll do that.” Remus said. 

“Will it hurt him?” Logan asked.

“It will give him nightmares for awhile but nothing deadly.” Remus said making another door. 

They stepped into the living room. 

“We’ll need to get you clean up huh?” Remus asked. Roman didn’t speak. He nodded a little.

Remus and Logan frowned. 

\---

Five days later Roman still wasn’t talking. He was clearly exhausted. 

“Still not sleeping kiddo?” Patton asked.

Roman shook his head.

Patton frowned, “And your voice?” 

Roman winced and looked down. “Hey no it’s ok. We just want to hear you talk again.” 

That didn’t help. Roman got up and walked away. Patton sighed. Virgil was bitting his thumb nail, “this isn’t right. Remus said that his vocal cords should be fine.” 

“Maybe they were damaged.” Logan said.

“He’ll be fine...in time.” 

Roman was listening in and he wanted to tell them that it was just the fact that he woke up screaming so much he hurt his throat every night. Of course he sound proofed his room. He didn’t want the others to suffer more for his mistakes. 

Wondering off, falling off a cliff. Traumatizing Virgil. Ruining the picnic. 

He sighed and coughed his throat rough. 

He needed some sleep.


	101. Bombs away

So maybe it wasn't a good idea. Ok. It was an awful awful awful idea. But even if you had gone back in time to tell Remus that he STILL would have done it. Simply out of boredom and the fact that Logan really really liked blowing things up when he was little.

Is that how there was a baby with a bomb? Yes!

It all started on a tuesday.

Logan woke up little. Not his normal teen self. He was five at the oldest. With even less self control than normal he set bout making a bomb. 

Remus found him pretty soon after. The responsible thing to do would be to stop him. Buuuuut. The FUN thing to do was help him! Making a bomb that covered everything in rainbow glitter? Huuuh? YES!

He would have preferred dead animal parts and blood but Logan didn't like the idea. So they stuck with the glitter and just had to pick out their target for the bomb.

It was SUPPOSE to be Virgil. But again plans change and Patton was the one who ended up triggering the explosive.

Turns out he after a surprise jump really liked it and praised both of them for how cool it was. Not the reaction Remus wanted but Logan had fun. So they made another one.

This is were things went south....fast.

See, the next bomb covered everything in slime and their target?

Janus..

The bomb worked perfectly....unfortunately.

Remus was banned from watching anyone when little every again. This did not stop him but it was a good thought.

All and all. A productive Tuesday.... Even if there still is random glitter and slime on the walls.


	102. one way to end a fight

Patton took a breath.

Everyone was yelling. Fighting. Arguing. Ignoring him. 

He was five seconds away from curling up into a ball and crying. 

“Now now kiddos-”

“Shut up patton!” Three people yelled at the same time.

Patton blinked as tears appeared in his eyes. He sobbed once before slapping a hand over his mouth. There was a beat of silence.

“Oh shoot!” 

“I didn’t mean to-”

“Look-” 

Patton bolted out of the room and ran till he was safely hidden in the back of a supply closet. He cried softly as he regressed. 

Stupid. You can’t fix anything.

He waited for awhile before crawling out of his hiding spot and tiptoeing down the hall. Virgil found him first. “Pat...Thank god. I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to make you cry.” 

Patton looked down and rubbed his arm. “It’s ok.”

Virgil frowned and walked closer, “No it isn’t. We should have been listening to you.” 

Patton shrugged and didn’t look up. Virgil looked him up and down. Oh. “Are you feeling small?”

Patton glanced up at him before giving a nod. Virgil held open his arms. Virgil rarely gave out hugs, and most of them were for Patton. Patton accepted the hug. “Sorry I ran.”

“You needed space. It’s all ok now. Yeah?” Virgil asked.

Patton nodded before tearing up again. “N-no. It isn’t!”

“What’s wrong?” Virgil asked.

Patton shook his head and cried harder. Roman saw them and walked over. “Patton I’m so sorry.” 

Patton whimpered. Virgil mouthed, “He’s little.” Over Patton’s head towards a confused Roman. 

Roman’s eyes widened. “Why don’t we go to the common room and we can talk there?” 

“Mkay.” 

Patton wordlessly grabbed both Roman and Virgil’s hands keeping his eyes on the ground. Virgil and Roman looked at each other before leading Patton to the common room. Patton sat down on the couch and tucked his knees to his chest.

“M sorry I’m a bother.” He muttered.

“No. You aren’t a bother.” Roman said quickly. Virgil quickly agreed.

Patton shook his head, “I didn’t help an den I was little at a bad time.” 

Roman sat down next to him and Patton curled up against his side. “It’s alright. You can be little.”

Patton couldn’t shake the guilt. 

At least until Logan came in. “Well you did fix the problem.”

“Really?” Roman and Patton asked at the same time.

“He got us to stop fighting.” Logan said.

Patton thought about that. He smiled, “yeah! I did it!”

“Just...let’s not do this again.”


	103. huddles

Huddles was Patton’s favorite thing. Hug cuddles? Y E S PLEASE! The only problem? No one really liked to do that too. At least when he was big. When he was little it seems like all he got was huddles. 

So maybe he got in the habit of regressing when he wanted huddles. He was still for real regressing so it wasn’t like he was cheating. He just...did it more. 

And it was great!

Until everyone was busy when he wanted huddles. Everyone was too busy. Quickly setting him up with a toy or something and sending him on his way. 

This was..fair. He had been a bit too much lately anyway. Maybe he shouldn’t regress as much for awhile.

The thought made him sad but he would just have to deal with it. They were busy. He couldn’t bug them. Besides it was just a busy couple days? Right?

Two weeks passed and there was no sign that the frenzy of work was going to end. Patton was bored, lonely and wanted huddles. 

“Sorry Pat I’m busy.” Virgil said.

“Later.” Was Roman’s answer.

Logan didn’t even answer the door. 

“I don’t have things to do.” Janus said without looking up at him.

He couldn’t even find Remus. 

He returned to his room and curled up under his blankets. He had two weighted blankets to help make it feel like he was being held. He hugged a pillow to his chest and tried not to cry.

\---

Everyone except Patton was relaxing for the first real stretch of time in a couple weeks. Logan was the first to notice the missing member of their group. 

“Where’s Patton?” 

“I saw him earlier.” Virgil said then frowned. 

“He showed up asking for...something.” Roman said, trying to remember what Patton had wanted. 

“Should we go check on him?” Virgil asked.

“Yes.”

When they got to his door they could hear muffled crying. “Pat?” 

The crying cut off. “S-sorry!” 

Roman opened the door. Patton was hidden under the heap of blankets on the bed. “What’s wrong?” 

“Don’t wanna be bother.” He said in his little voice.

They looked at each. “Have we been too busy for you?” 

“S-s-sorry.” He sobbed. 

“Oh. no.” Virgil sat down on the edge of the bed and put a hand on Patton’s shoulder. “You don’t have to be sorry.” 

Patton shook his head, “I-I huddles...but-but busy! An a bother!” 

“You aren’t a bother.” Logan said. 

“Do you want Huddles now?” 

He looked up at them. “Please?” 

Patton end up snuggled between Roman and Logan on the couch, Virgil sitting in front of him on the floor. He closed his eyes and let himself settle into the cuddle pile. 

He still wished he could have this when he wasn’t regressed. But that was a problem for another day.


	104. Age to dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whaaaat? A personal problem popping up in a one shot? pfffft! No! That's..that's crazy! ;-;

Life as it does got busy. At first it was a few days between regressing, then a couple weeks, a month or two. Before he knew it it had been half a year since he had regressed. Roman was shocked. He wondered why his caregivers, Patton and Logan hadn’t mentioned it. 

Were they...relieved that he wasn’t doing it anymore? That thought bothered him. 

So he brought it up with them. They blinked in surprise, “Six months? It can’t have been that long!” Patton said.

Logan thought about it for a second, “It has been. Interesting. Do you think that you have...out grown it?” 

Roman hunched in on himself, “Do you want me too?” 

Patton and Logan looked at each other. “Why would you think that?” Patton asked bewildered. 

“Well...I know I’m not the best when I’m little and...I’m a handful….I bug you both.” Roman listed off. Wow he really felt bad about regressing? When did that start?

“Roman.” Logan said, “We are here for you regressed or not.”

Why didn’t that make him feel better? Roman nodded once, “Right. Ok. Thanks.” He left, Logan and Patton watched him go concerned.

Roman got his little gear out and tried. Really really tried to regress but he just...couldn’t. Dejected he put the stuff in a box and shoved it into the back of his closet. Had he outgrown it? 

He felt...sad. Like he was missing a part of himself that he never got to say goodbye to. He didn’t know that last time was going to be the last time! 

But maybe...it was better this way? 

He didn’t know. 

There was a knock at his door. “Come in.” 

Patton and Logan walked in. “Hey Kiddo. How are you doing?”

“I’m...fine..I guess.” Roman said.

“That sounds like you aren’t really fine.” Logan commented as they both sat down on either side of him on the side of the bed. 

“I don’t know I just...Maybe I have outgrown it.” Roman said. 

“...And you don’t want to let it go yet?” Patton asked.

Roman looked at him. “I can’t regress anymore. I can’t...get in that headspace.” 

“I’m sorry.” Patton said hugging him. 

“Well that will happen. And it it completely fine to.. Move on as it were.” Logan said.

Roman stood up, “But I don’t want to move on!” 

“...What about age dreaming?” Logan suggested.

“What?” Roman knew what it was but the suggestion threw him off balance. 

“If you can’t regress you could still age dream.” Logan said.

Roman shifted, “And..you both would be ok with that?” 

“Of course!” Patton said. 

Roman let himself smile, “Ok..We can try it.” 

\---

Age dreaming was...different. He was more aware than he was when he had been regressed. But it was still relaxing. 

Logan and Patton took care of him just like they had before. Only, this time they could schedule when he would age dream instead of it just...happening. 

Roman didn’t mind the switch. This suited him, and he didn’t lose his Caregivers like he feared he would. He knew one day he would stop age dreaming. That he wouldn’t need it anymore. But for now, he was happy.


	105. lost in the woods 2

Remus felt guilty. Sure it wasn’t his fault that Roman and Virgil ran off but they got lost, and roman got hurt, in his area. Now he still wasn’t talking.

Remus sighed and went for a night walk. Clear his head. 

That is when he heard a scream. It was coming from Roman’s room. He burst in. weapon at the ready. Roman whimpered and shook his head in his sleep before screaming again. 

Remus went over and shook him awake. “Roman! Wake up!”

Roman opened his eyes and screamed again when he saw Remus before he fully took in who it was. Then he hugged Remus crying and shaking. 

“Whoa bad dreams?” Remus asked, hugging his brother tightly. 

“Lost.” Roman croaked out, voice rough from screaming. 

“You were lost?” Remus asked as he heard someone move behind him. He drew a knife and pointed it behind him at a startled Virgil. “What are you doing here?”

“I heard screaming?” Virgil said looking concerned at Roman. 

“It wasn’t me.” Remus promised. 

Roman sniffed and looked away from them. “Go...please.” He asked.

“You screamed so hard you hurt your voice, I’m not going anywhere.” Virgil said, climbing onto the bed next to the pair. 

Roman glared at his clenched fists. “It’s stupid.”

“Nightmares are stupid..well they can be stupid. But it’s not stupid to be afraid.” Remus said.

Roman shook his head, “I messed up.” He looked at Virgil, “Hurt you.” 

Virgil tilted his head confused, “When did you hurt me?” 

“Woods.” Remus and Virgil looked at each other.

“Hey. It’s ok. We’re safe now.” Virgil said. He didn’t really remember much about the woods except they were dark and Roman was there to protect him. 

Clearly Roman was more damaged by their little adventure. 

“Sorry.” Roman said he winced and rubbed his neck like it would ease the raw feeling. 

“Let’s get you some tea.” Virgil said.

Roman sighed but agreed. Patton peeked his head out, “Everything ok?” 

“Fine.” Roman croaked. Patton’s eyes widened.

“What happened to your voice?”

“He screamed himself awake.” Remus said.

“That’s not fine!” 

“We know,” Virgil said, “We’re going to go get him some tea.” 

“I’ll help.” Patton offered.

They took him downstairs and set him on the couch. Remus tucked a blanket around him as Virgil and Patton made tea. They came back in with a large mug of tea. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Virgil said.

“It should help.” Patton said.

Roman took a sip before coughing. Or rather hacking. 

The other three shared concerned glances. “How long have you been screaming in your sleep?” Virgil asked.

Roman didn’t look at him. 

“Has it been since we got lost?” He asked.

Roman gave the smallest nod.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Patton said.

“No...bother.” 

Remus rolled his eyes. “Of course you would be like that.” 

“Kiddo….you aren’t a bother. We are here for you.” Patton said, giving Roman a one armed hug. Roman nodded slowly. 

“Right...sorry.” 

“Don’t apologise.” Virgil said.

“...sorry.” 

Virgil threw his hands in the arm, “Ugh.” Roman smiled. 

“Thank..you…” Roman said.

“Drink your tea Princey.” Virgil said.

Roman took another sip. He was tired and it showed. “Do you want to sleep down here? One of us can stay with you. Keep the bad dreams away.” Patton said.

Roman bit his lips before speaking, “Please?”

So Roman didn’t sleep alone after that. They all took turns sleeping in the same room. Quick to get to him if he woke up screaming. There to calm him down and reassure him. 

Slowly he recovered. Till there was a solid week since he woke up screaming. His voice was healing, it still broke sometimes but it was much better. 

“Thank you.” He said out of the blue at dinner. 

“For what?” 

“Being there for me.” He said.

They all smiled at him.. “Of course. We’ll always be here.” 

He smiled back.


	106. cut part two

Janus walked in and was immediately confused as to why Remus was asleep on Logan with everyone else crowded around him. “What’s going on?”

“Oh Janus-”

“Jan!” Remus said happily, reaching for him. Janus took a step back and narrowed his eyes. Remus dropped his hands. Tears appearing in his eyes.

“Why did you do to him?” Janus asked.

“We didn’t do anything.” Virgil defended.

“Well technically both of you did.” Logan said.

Janus and Virgil looked at him. Virgil looked away guilty, Janus still didn’t get it. “You left.”

“So that made him..what? Turn into a child?” Janus asked.

“Basically.” Roman said.

“Well age regression is more complex than being simply a child again. It’s more of a defense method for stress, and a number of other everyday problems that the mind needs a break from.” Logan said.

Janus looked at Remus who shyly waved at him. “I..see.”

“You leaving again?” Remus asked.

Janus couldn’t walk away after that. He walked over and sat down as far from Remus and Logan as possible. Remus frowned and crawled over into his lap. “Wha- Remus!” 

“Awww!” Patton said. 

Janus grumbled as he wrapped Remus in a hug and avoided everyone’s eyes. 

“What do we do with him?” Roman asked.

“Oh! New childhood memories!” Patton said.

“Or in his case...just childhood memories.” Logan said.

“Well as long as I don’t have to carry him around, I’m down.” Virgil said.

“Weak.” Roman coughed. 

“Care to repeat that?” Virgil asked. 

Roman ignored him, He clapped his hands together. “Yes! Time for the greatest childhood memories!...and those would be?” 

They all looked at each other as Remus snuggled up for a nap on Janus.


	107. blood and rattles.

(WARNING SELF HARM AND SUICIDAL THOUGHTS.)

So maybe Roman couldn’t cope in a healthy way. Maybe his arms were scarred and he didn’t sleep due to nightmares. Maybe he thought about dying. So? He was still here. He didn’t need help.

He was handling it.

Maybe he pushed himself to extremes just to feel something. Maybe the stress of failing was driving him crazy. What was he going to do? Talk about it? Who was going to listen?

No he could handle this. He had to...right?

They need him to be fine. They needed him to be there...right?

He was shaking as he bandaged his arm. He had cut deeper than normal and it wasn’t stopping. He was late as it was. He didn’t have time for this!

He glanced in the mirror, he looked good enough and rose up and found...they had started without him. That’s fine. 

No one noticed him. 

That’s fine.

Everytime he tried to talk he was cut off. That’s…

It’s…

….

Sunk out unaware that he left blood on the floor. 

\---

He was cutting again when someone knocked. He cut deeper again and yelped. 

“Are you ok in there?” Patton’s concerned voice called through. 

“Y-yeah.” He cursed himself internally for his voice weavering. He pulled his sleeve down and threw the blade under his covers as the door opened. 

Patton, Logan, And Virgil walked in. 

“We noticed you left early.” Logan said.

“Well It seemed that I wasn’t helping so-”

“We also found blood on the carpet where you were standing.” Logan continued. 

Roman paled. What? How had he messed up? He bandaged it!

Virgil sensed Roman’s panic. Roman shifted so his injured arm was behind him. “I’m fine. That’s...really weird.” 

“How badly is your arm hurt?” Virgil asked.

“I’m fine.” He lied firmly. “Now not that this isn’t nice but could you please-” He was cut off as Virgil darted forward and grabbed Roman’s arm. Roman hissed in pain as blood soaked through his white sleeve and onto Virgil’s hand.

Virgil pulled his sleeve up and stared. “What did you do?”

“I..” Roman’s mind was running trying to think of an excuse. He’s mind was blank with fear.

“Have you been..hurting yourself?” Patton whispered.

Roman ripped his arm out of his Virgil’s grip and pulled his sleeve down. “It helps me.”

“It’s hurting you.” Logan said. “Many victims of self harm feel it helps in some way.” 

Victim….

“Why do you care?” Roman snapped. “It’s not hurting you!” 

“It’s hurting you!” Virgil snapped back.

“We care about you. We don’t want you to…”

Patton’s voice was getting distant. Roman noticed his vision was blurry. How much blood had he lost again? 

He stumbled back away from them. He hit the wall and shook his head. He had to steady himself. “Get out.” 

“We…..you….man?” Why did it sound like he was underwater? He slid down the wall, someone was right in front of him. 

Oh...he was passing out...Great.

\----

He woke dizzy. He sat up and someone pushed him back down, “No sitting up yet prince dumbass.” 

Ah..Virgil.

“What happened?” Roman asked.

“You tore your arm open and bleed out like an idiot.” Virgil snapped.

Roman winced. Idiot. Failure. Stupid.

“Right.” Roman agreed, closing his eyes. God he wanted to die. 

“Roman?” Virgil shook his shoulder. 

“No no keep going. What happened after that? I passed out like a failure and made you all take care of me?” Roman looked at Virgil who was staring at him with his mouth open.

“What...why would...what?” 

“It would have been so much better if you just let me die!” Roman said sitting up. Dizzy but he managed to not fall backwards. 

“Falsehood.” Logan said.

He and Patton were standing in the doorway. Patton was crying. Great. Messed it up again.

“Roman we care about you.” Logan said.

“We need you.” Patton said.

“It’s not..the same without you.” Virgil was getting choked up. 

Roman glared at the bed sheets. At his bandaged arm. “Right.”

\---

Roman didn’t talk much after that. He almost always had someone with him. On suicide watch. Great.

He tried to play it off as a recent bout of insanity and that he was fine. No one believed it. 

“We need to find a healthy coping method for you.” Logan said.

Roman rolled his eyes but said nothing. 

“Ice cube?” 

Roman sighed, “I have tried everything.” 

Logan went through a list, Roman getting more and more irritated with everything he had tried and failed. 

“Age regression?” Logan asked.

“...What?” Roman asked.

“Age regression...I take it you haven’t tried it?” Logan asked.

Roman shook his head, “Doubt it will help.” 

“Well it is worth a shot. I’ve found it useful.” Logan said.

Roman blinked. Huh…

\---

“This is stupid.” Roman said sitting on the floor with a bunch of childrens’ toys around him of different age groups. From baby to pre teen. 

“Give it a shot!” Patton encouraged. “Lo is pretty little. He likes not having to think.”

That sounded nice. “So what do I do?” Roman asked.

“Just start playing.” Patton said, “See if anything clicks.” 

Roman picked up a stuffed raccoon and hugged it. 

This is stupid. Part of him said. This is nice, the other part said.

Roman frowned and put the raccoon down. He picked up a baby rattle. “Really?” 

Patton smiled at him. “Try it!” 

Roman huffed and shook it. Then he shook it again. He snapped out of it as he noticed he was smiling. He put it down quickly.

“It won’t work if you keep fighting it.” Logan informed him. 

“Well how do you do it?” Roman asked.

Logan sighed and sat down next to patton. He grabbed the rattle and shook it. Roman watched as Logan’s face shifted. He could see it working. Logan shook the rattle a few times before handing it to Patton. 

“No more rattle? Ok. what are you going to do next?” Patton asked.

Logan didn’t speak. He just picked up a child’s puzzle beads and stuck his tongue out as he worked at it. 

Roman stared as Logan didn’t immediately solve it. He seemed more interested in just...playing with the colored beads. 

Roman felt less self conscious and picked up the raccoon again. He hugged it to his chest. 

“Did you pick out a friend?” Patton asked.

Roman blushed, “I guess.” 

“Does he have a name?” Patton asked gently. 

“It’s a girl.” Roman said before he really thought about it. 

“Oh. What’s her name?” Patton asked.

“Mika.” Roman said in a higher pitched voice than normal. 

“That’s a good name.” Patton said. 

Roman hugged Mika. She was soft and plush and had a cute face. Roman found himself softly petting her head. “What do I do now?” He asked firmly in little space.

“Anything you want.” Patton said smiling. 

Logan shook the bead puzzle before handing it Patton. He grabbed the rattle again. 

Roman wanted a rattle. He frowned when he didn’t see another out. “Rattle?” 

Patton looked down and found one. “Here you go!”

“Thanks you.” Roman said before shaking it. 

Logan watched him and shook his rattle twice. Roman copied him. They both giggled and rattled at each other. 

“Awww. Having fun?” Patton asked.

Roman hid behind Mika. “Yeah.” He confessed. 

Logan nodded. 

Patton beamed. 

\---  
Roman took a breath. He regressed naturally now when he got overwhelmed. But he felt bad having Patton watch both him and Logan. Turns out he didn’t stay shy. He was a bit of a brat and when he was little he didn’t notice but that was a lot for Patton to deal with.

He needed someone who could snap back at him when he snapped. He needed someone who wasn’t as soft. He needed Virgil. 

So he knocked on Virgil’s door nervously. “Oh. Hey? You need something?” 

“Oh Me Just...Checking up on you.” Roman said awkwardly. “And You’re fine sooo bye!” 

“Get back here.” Virgil said.

Roman turned back around. Virgil raised an eyebrow. Roman looked away for a second, took a breath and then blurted it out, “Will you be my caregiver?” 

Virgil looked at him in surprise. “Me? What about Pat?”

“He’s good but..I don’t think he’s what I need in a Caregiver.” Roman said

“Did you talk to him about it?’ Virgil asked.

“I did. He was the one who suggested you.” Roman admitted.

Virgil nodded, “We can try it...but don’t get your hopes up.” 

Roman beamed and Virgil knew he was stuck with him. Not that he minded. 

Roman was better now. He was coping. He was…

Happy.


	108. blood and rattles 2

(WARNING SELF HARM MENTION AND BITING.)

Roman wanted to cut. So he went to Virgil who took one look at him before offering a hug. Roman hugged him tightly. “Do you need to be little right now?” 

“Please?” Roman asked, his voice breaking on the word.

Virgil nodded before pulling back and grabbing Roman hand, taking him to Roman’s room. “Let’s see. First we can get you in some cozy pjs and then a snack?” 

Roman smiled and went to his closet and started looking for something to wear. He saw a small box on a shelf that held a spare razor. He froze and slowly reached for it. Virgil grabbed it before he could. He didn’t need to ask what was in there, he just slipped it into his hoodie pocket.

Roman took a breath. He pulled out some Lilo and stitch pjs and put them on. “How small do you wanna be today Little prince?” Virgil asked looking in a drawer with Pacis and other baby items. 

Roman wrinkled his nose, “Bigger than that.” Virgil laughed. 

“Ok. Snack time then?” Virgil held out his hand and Roman took it. 

They went down to the kitchen and found Logan, “Hello. I see someone is little.” 

Roman huffed, “I’m five.” 

Logan nodded fighting not to smile at the sass in Roman’s tone. He was just going to encourage him if he did that.

“Well that’s big isn’t it?” Logan said.

Virgil ruffled Roman’s hair. “What do you want to eat?”

“Fruit gummies!” Roman said excitedly. 

Virgil got him a small cup of fruit gummies and a water bottle. He set them on the table next to Logan and Roman sat down. Kicking his feet as he sorted them by color before eating them.

“Two….four...five...seven…” He counted the colors. He had to eat the ones with the most than move down to the smallest. “...Seven.” 

He had two groups of seven. “Uh oh.” 

“What’s wrong?” Virgil asked as he got himself a cup of coffee.

Logan glanced over and noticed. He quickly took one from one of the piles of seven. “There. Problem solved.” 

Roman narrowed his eyes. “I guess.” 

Roman slowly started eating them, one arm blocking Logan from taking any more of his snack. Logan slipped the extra gummy back into its pile when Roman glanced back to see what Virgil was doing. 

Roman finished eating just as Virgil sat down. “Done!” 

“No. you have to drink your water too.” Virgil said.

Roman groaned, “But I Don’t wanna!” 

“You need to stay hydrated and I know you haven’t been drinking today.” Virgil said.

Roman glared at him for a solid minute and when Virgil didn’t back down he blew a raspberry at him before drinking his water.

Logan sat back to watch this play out. He was impressed with Virgil for not caving. Patton would have right after Roman said he didn’t want to. 

“Done!” Roman said slamming the empty cup down. 

“We don’t slam things.” Virgil reminded him. 

Roman huffed and crossed his arms. “Whatever.” 

Logan was not going to laugh. He was not going to laugh. He was not…. “Excuse me.” He left quickly before laughing. 

Roman watched him go with a pout. “But…”

“What’s wrong?” Virgil asked.

Roman shrugged, “It’s nothing.” He kicked his feet again. He started scratching his arm. 

Virgil gently pulled Roman’s hand away from his arm, “No scratching.” 

Roman glared at him, “I need it!”

“Roman.” Virgil warned.

“Pffft!” Roman replied.

“Do you want a time out?” Virgil asked.

Roman knew that was the last straw. That he was pushing his limits. He also knew that this was for his own good and He was the one that made the rules when he was bigger. 

He still thought it was unfair. 

“Mean.” 

Virgil rolled his eyes, “Making sure you don’t hurt yourself. Totally mean.” 

Roman thought about biting him, but he didn’t want to hurt Virgil. He wanted to hurt himself. So he bit the arm that Virgil wasn’t holding. 

“NO!” Virgil snapped. Pulling Roman’s head back. “We don’t bite either!” 

Roman teared up. “No no no no! Always no!” 

“Roman…”

Roman pulled his arms out of Virgil’s grip and ran off. He hid behind the dryer crying. He scratched at his arms as guilt swallowed him. He knew he shouldn’t do this! Why was he doing this! Virgil was going to hate him now! 

They were all going to hate him!

He was panicking so much it was easy for Virgil to track him down. 

“Stupid stupid stupid.” roman muttered to himself. 

Virgil Peeked behind the dryer at him, “You ready to come out?” 

“NO!”

Virgil sat cross legged and watched him scratch his arms. Roman stopped under Virgil’s disappointed gaze. He started crying harder. “You hate me!”

Virgil took a calming breath. It hurt that Roman got like this. “No I don’t. No one hates you.” 

“I do.” Roman muttered a bit older sounding. 

“It’s getting worse again isn’t it?” Virgil asked seriously.

Roman glared at the scratches on his arms. He won’t meet Virgil’s eyes. “Yes.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Virgil asked.

“I want to cut it away.” Roman said sharply.

Virgil was unfazed, “You know that won’t help.” 

Roman sighed heavily. “I know. “He sounded hollow. Done. 

This was worse than Virgil thought. “Come on, let’s get in some clean pjas, those look pretty gross from being back there.” 

Roman sighed and climbed out from behind the dryer. Virgil took his hand and led him to go get clean clothing. 

“What happened?” Patton asked, seeing a dirty, puffy eyed Roman. 

Virgil just shook his head. Patton got it and didn’t press. He just ruffled Roman’s hair as he passed. 

Roman felt worse than ever. He was making them worry. Making Virgil deal with his temper tantrums and breakdowns. Stupid.

“You are not stupid.” Virgil said firmly as he pull out clean pjs from Roman’s closet. 

“I don’t think we should do this anymore.” Roman said, trying to throw up a wall.

Virgil knew what that meant. “Roman you are not a bother. I like taking care of you.”

“I’m awful!” Roman argued glaring at himself in the mirror. 

“Look at me.” Virgil said. Roman turned his head towards him. “You are not awful, or useless, or a burden, or any of the terrible things your brain is saying.” 

Roman huffed, “I can change myself.” 

Virgil nodded and turned around but didn’t leave the room. Even after multiple searches there were still razors in here. And with Roman’s ability to just make new ones made it unsafe to leave him alone. 

Roman finished changing. “I’ll go put these in the wash.” He said holding the dirty Pjas.

“I’ll go with you.” Virgil said.

Roman nodded stiffly before walking out Virgil following him. 

Patton was waiting outside, “I’ll take those!” He said cheerfully grabbing the dirty clothing.

“I can-”

“Nope! Just let me handle it!” Patton beamed at Roman before walking off with the laundry. 

Roman scratched again.  
“Roman.” Virgil said gently.

Roman’s hand jerked away from his arm. He was on the verge of tears. “I’m sorry.”

“I know. This is hard. But you are fighting it.” Virgil reminded him. “You are making progress at getting better.”

Roman shifted. He looked at the ground before peeking at Virgil, “Can I….”

“Yes?”

“Hug?” Roman asked small. 

Virgil opened his arms and Roman threw himself into them. Today was a bad day. It wasn’t even over. But Virgil and the others would be there for him. 

He was getting through this. 

One day at a time.


	109. HUddles 2

Remus was touch starved. Sooooo He would fix it! He made a cuddle bundle! Four weighted blankets, a heat lamp, body pillow with arms. The works! It was perfect! Now he didn't have to beg for hugs and cuddles from everyone else, especially since the answer was always no. Now he could have cuddles anytime he wanted! It should be perfect! 

But he tossed and turned in the cuddle bundle he couldn’t get comfortable. There was something missing. 

Oh! Right! The smell! It didn’t smell right. It just smelled like him. If he was cuddling someone else he would be able to smell them. That’s what was missing! How to fix it? 

He’d just steal someone’s shirt or something. Now who did he want to smell? Not Roman. He threw that idea out right away. Next to go was Logan, He smelled boring. Virgil would kill him for stealing something. He wouldn’t be able to sneak past Janus. So that left Patton. 

He popped up in Patton’s room and found him gone, but there was a nice weighted blanket that smelled like him which he took. He stuffed his face into the material after he burrowed under his cuddle bundle. Perfect! 

Almost perfect….

It would be nicer with the real person. But….Patton probably didn't want to cuddle him. At least not if he was big. He only let Remus give him hugs if he was small. Remus got small too, just...he didn’t show it like Patton did.

He was just louder and couldn’t sit still. Patton liked to just cuddle and not do much, Remus was the opposite. So it wasn’t surprising that no one picked up on it. He didn’t mind them overlooking it. It was just another thing they didn’t want to deal with. 

He shook his head. He was going to make himself sad thinking about all of this. 

He didn’t notice that he had fallen asleep till there was a knock waking him up. He snapped and the door opened without him having to get out of the heap. 

“Remus have you seen….” Patton’s voice trailed off as he took in the cuddle bundle. 

He walked over and Remus stuck his head out from under Patton’s blanket. “Oh. You did take it.” 

Remus sighed and held it out. “Nice while it lasted.” He muttered.

Patton frowned, “Why did you need this?” 

“For the smell.” 

“The...smell?” Patton asked.

“Yeah. My cuddle bundle didn’t smell right without the smell of someone else.” Remus said.

Patton blinked and looked at the pile of blankets again. Reminded of his own method of trying to feel being held. “Remus...do you want a cuddle?”

“Duh. Hence the cuddle bundle.” Remus rolled his eyes.

“No I mean...Would you like to cuddle with me?” Patton asked.

Remus’s face lit up. “Really?” 

Patton nodded. Remus dragged him into the cuddle bundle. “Thank you!” 

Patton laughed. “Anytime.” He had a feeling that he knew how to solve both of their problems of not having anyone to cuddle with now.


	110. No more little (Angst size large.) 2

Janus could not handle it alone. It was clear after a week that he needed to regress but was stubbornly avoiding Virgil and Logan. If they didn’t like it he wasn’t going to do it. 

Then again when did he let what other people thought affect his actions? 

He huffed and decided to regress on his own. One problem with that. He forgot he was mad and Logan and Virgil and went to them for help.

“Oh Janus!” Virgil jumped as He opened his door to find Janus.

Janus waved having gone nonverbal. Virgil blinked, “Feeling small?” 

Janus nodded. He grabbed Virgil’s hand and pointed towards Logan’s door. “Yeah we can get Logan.” A bit confused by the little’s shift of mood from bigger him.

Virgil knocked on Logan’s door. Logan was surprised to See Janus but quickly took in him holding Virgil’s hand and his posture and let them in. 

Janus crawled onto Logan’s bed and looked at them. They looked at each. This was weird.

“Are you feeling ok?” Virgil asked.

Janus shrugged and grabbed Logan’s pillow and hugged it. He started biting his thumb. Logan grabbed a paci he kept in his desk and gave it to him. “I guess he doesn’t have a problem with us when he’s little.”

“So what is the problem?” Virgil asked.

Janus remembered what it was. He had to fight to get the words out, “I no good be little.” 

“You don’t think you should be little?” Logan translated.

“You no like it….weird.” His voice broke on the last word. 

“Oh. No. It’s not weird.” Virgil promised.

“You can be little as much as you want.” Logan said.

Janus looked at them hopeful. “Really?” 

“Really.” they would have to talk to big Janus about this later but for now they had a little to comfort.


	111. not alone

“Let go of my hand.” Patton said.

“No!” Remus said firmly.

“I can’t cook with only one hand.” Patton said.

Remus shook his head, “Noooo!” 

Patton sighed. Remus could be clingy in little space. Very clingy.

“Please?” Patton asked. 

Remus shook his head and hung on tighter, “nooooo! I wanna hold hands!” 

“Why don’t you go find someone else to hold hands with?” Patton asked. 

“Too busy.” Remus muttered kicking at the ground. Patton really really wanted to let Remus hold his hand but he also needed it. 

“Can I have it back for one minute?” 

“No!” 

“Thirty seconds!” 

“Mmmmkay.” Remus let go and Patton immediately got back to work. Remus watched waiting for his chance to grab a loose hand. Sadly more than a few minutes passed and Patton was still busy. 

Remus sighed and left. Everyone was just too busy.

He sat down on the stairs and put his chin in his hands. He wanted to hold someone’s hand, cause then they were there and they weren’t leaving. It made sure they stayed. 

But Roman was busy. And Virgil was busy. And Logan. Janus…..Patton….

He sighed heavily and held his own hand. He couldn’t leave himself. 

“Remus? Why are you sitting on the stairs?” He turned to see Logan. Remus jumped up and grabbed his hand. “Oh I see. Feeling little?” 

Remus nodded.

“And there is no one else you can hold on to?” Logan said hopefully.

“Nooo! Patton’s busy. And so’s Roman, an Jan… and V.” Remus said tightening his grip.

Logan sighed, “Very well. You can tag along.” He switched hands so he was holding onto Remus with his right hand. This way he could still work. 

He dropped off some papers for Roman before going back to his desk. Remus sat on the floor just..holding onto Logan’s hand with both of his.

He’s there. He’s not leaving. You aren’t alone. He repeated to himself quietly. Under his breath, unaware that Logan could hear him. 

“He’s not leaving. Not alone. He’s still here.” Remus whispered, closing his eyes and focusing on the feeling of the hand in both of his. 

Logan tightened his grip, “I’m not going anywhere.” He promised. 

Remus opened his eyes and looked up at him. “...Do you need your hand back?” He asked in a very small voice.

“Not yet.” Logan said. In truth he did need his other hand. But he wasn’t going to let go yet. He could wait till Remus wasn’t regressed anymore to let go if need be. 

He was going to have to talk to the others about why Remus felt he had to hold someone’s hand as well.

It was a conversion that went surprisingly well. Seeing as there was more to Remus’s clingy behavior than previously expected. They all agreed to take turns holding his hand. 

After that he always had someone’s hand to hold while little. 

He wasn’t alone.


	112. a bad idea 1

Roman was scared of the dark. They all knew that. When he was little it got worse. He jumped at shadows and didn’t even try to hide his fear. He slept with the lights on. The only problem with that was no one else did. The hall outside his door was dark. 

So when he woke up regressed and scared well...he couldn’t go get anyone. He was stuck alone with the shadows. 

He took a deep breath. He could do this. There was nothing out there. He was safe. It was just...dark. And..you never know what’s waiting in the dark. You never know what’s watching you from the dark. 

Ready when you aren’t. To pounce. Attack.

Something moved out of the corner of his eye and he jumped. He hid under the covers. He was safe. He was safe. He was-

“You ok?” 

He pulled his covers back to see Virgil looking at him from the doorway. He jumped out of bed and bolted over hugging him.

“Whoa! Ok. Someone is a little scared huh?” Virgil asked.

Roman was the most comfortable about his fear with Virgil. Virgil understood the what if? Better than anyone else.

“Sorry.” Roman whimpered hiding his face in Virgil’s shoulder.

“It’s ok. Let’s just get you back to bed ok?” Virgil said leading roman back to bed.

He got him back under the covers and settled down in a chair next to the bed. “Are you gonna stay?” roman asked.

“I’ll be right here till you wake up again.” Virgil promised.

Roman frowned and scooted over so there was more room on the bed. He patted it. Virgil Shifted onto the bed next to Roman sitting up against the headboard. “There? Happy?” 

Roman hugged him again. He yawned. Virgil chuckled. “Sleep.” 

Roman drifted off.

\---

The next time he woke up scared Patton was the one who noticed. “You ok Kiddo?”

“It’s dark.” Roman whispered from his bed. Too scared of the monster under the bed to get up. 

Patton walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed. “Hey. It’s ok.”

“Monster under the bed.” Roman said.

“Oh. Do you want me to check?” Patton asked. Roman nodded. Patton peeked under the bed. “Oh!”

“What?” Roman asked scared.

“Remus get out from under there!” Patton said firmly.

Remus crawled out and blew a raspberry before leaving. Patton huffed. “No real monsters.”

Roman was relieved. But a thought nagged at him. That maybe he needed to get over his fear. 

He wasn’t sure how he would do that. But he knew he had to try.

The next night he slept with the lights off but had a night light. It was...darker. But he could still see...somewhat.

This was fine. No monsters. No need to be scared.

\---

He wasn’t sleeping. At least at night. Instead he fell asleep at the breakfast table, when he sat down, at his desk. 

Everyone else was getting concerned. 

But he had to get over his fear.

He was going to get over his fear. One sleepless night at a time.


	113. snake's snake

Remus was bouncing at his idea. This was perfect! Why hadn’t he thought of it before? A snake for his favorite snake! 

He waited till he knew that Janus was regressed (And Patton was out of the room.) before popping up. “Hi!” Janus waved.

Remus beamed, “Oh I have something for you!” 

Janus smiled, “Really?” 

Remus nodded and pulled out a ball python. Janus’s face lit up when he saw the snake. “Snake!” 

“That’s right!” Remus said letting Janus carefully take the snake from him. 

“I love him!” Janus said then giggled when the snake licked his face. 

Remus grinned from ear to ear. “What do you want to name him?” 

Janus’s eyebrows pulled together as he thought. “Apophis!” He said after a long minute. 

“That’s a great name!” Remus ruffled Janus’s hair.

Patton walked back in with a sippy cup for Janus, “Here’s your apple juUUUUISAAAH! WHAT IS THAT?” 

“It’s Apophis!” Janus said proudly holding up his new friend. 

“That’s….great...kiddo.” Patton forced out before glaring daggers at Remus.

“Oh please! It’s not even poisonous!” Remus said.

“You wanna hold him?” Janus asked.

“NOO!” Janus’s face fall. Patton backtracked, “I mean. You should hold on to him.” 

Janus sighed and hugged the snake gently. “Why don’t you go show Logan?” Patton asked. “I’m sure he’ll love...Apophis.” 

Janus’s face lit up again. “Mkay!” He ran off.

Patton turned towards Remus. 

“You only banned me from watching Logan.” Remus reminded him. 

Patton rubbed his face. “Well now you’re double banned.” 

Remus huffed. “Not even poisonous this time.” 

“I don’t care if it’s not….WHAT DO YOU MEAN THIS TIME?”

Remus laughed as he ran off.


	114. blood and rattles 3

Virgil rubbed his face. He was worn out. Roman was running him ragged keeping up with his moods. He needed a break. 

“Just...I need a day off.” Virgil said.

Roman looked guilty. “Oh..Right. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have...Listen just. If you need anything go to Logan or Patton ok?” Virgil said.

Roman nodded. “I will…” Virgil stared at him. “I promise!” Roman said firmly.

Virgil nodded, “Good.” He retreated to his room for a much needed break.

Roman bit his lip. He was getting to be too much. He needed to do better on his own now. He didn’t want to push them too much. 

Oddly enough there was no self hatred in his thoughts, just concern that he was putting too much on his friends. He was determined to do better and give Virgil the rest he deserved.

It was easier said than done. He went unconsciously to Virgil’s door twice before he realized what he was doing and turned around. He went to Logan but he couldn’t bring himself to talk about it so instead just sat on the corner while Logan worked. 

“Are you sure you don’t need anything?” Logan asked for the fifth time.

“I’m fine Specs. Just..not being alone is helping more than you know.” Roman said.

Logan frowned but nodded and continued working. 

Roman let his thoughts drift. So far so good. Maybe this would work? Surely if he was just a silent presence then he wouldn’t be wearing Virgil out anymore. 

He smiled to himself at his plan. This would work. He would just...be a silent companion. That way he could get help if he needed it but their presence would deter him from actually doing anything. 

He’s plan worked for a week. One very confusing week for Virgil. 

Virgil had said one day...right? He hadn’t messed up and asked for more time? He was sure he didn’t. So why was Roman acting so...distant? Was he offended that Virgi had asked for time? Did he think Virgil didn’t want to help him anymore?

Roman on the other hand...was doing great. 

His plan was working! With each passing day he felt better about his success at not wearing his friends down anymore! He was handling it on his own! He was….proud of himself. 

“Hey...Ro..You ok?” Virgil asked after one afternoon of silence. 

Roman looked at him and smiled, “I’m doing fantastic!”

Virgil frowned and Roman’s smile faltered. “Is...that a problem?” Worry wormed its way into his head. Had he misread this? Was he still too much?

“You will tell me when something is bothering you...right?” Virgil asked.

“I mean you are right now.” Roman’s eyes widened as he heard what he said. “No! I mean! You’re worrying me! Have I done something wrong? I thought I was doing better!”

Virgil tilted his head, “Have you been doing better? You’re quiet all the time.” 

“Of course! I can’t keep burdening you all with my stupid thoughts.” Roman said simply. 

Virgil blinked, “IS this about me needing a break?”

“In part….I just think I can handle alot of this on my own now.” Roman said.

“So you don’t need me anymore. IS that it?” Virgil snapped.

Roman stared at him. “What? No! I do! I just...I don’t want to be too much!” 

“Damn it Roman! I thought we got past that!” Virgil said.

Roman deflated. “Oh...I’m...sorry.” 

Virgil took a breath and then looked at Roman. Really looked at Roman who was scratching through his sleeve, something he hadn’t done in weeks. Because he let himself over think Roman’s progress. 

“Roman I’m sorry….” Virgil said.

Roman didn’t look at him. “I should go.” Roman said quietly before running from the room.

Virgil watched him go….Damn it.

\---

Roman to his credit did not lock himself in his room and cut away the feeling of failure. No, instead he went to Patton and tried to make sense of Virgil’s disapproval.

“I’ve been feeling..better! I don’t know why he’s so upset!” Roman said pacing. 

Patton watched and nodded along, “Do you want me to talk to him for you?” Patton asked.

Roman did want that. He didn’t want to have to hear first hand how Virgil thought he failed. “Please?”

Patton nodded. “Ok. I will. But first I want you to listen to me.” 

Roman turned so he was giving all of his attention to Patton. “I’m proud of you. You’ve made amazing progressing and recently you’ve taken a big step in getting better. You are doing better! Don’t let whatever is upsetting Virgil stop that. Ok kiddo?”

Roman was tearing up. He sniffed. “Thank you. I needed to hear that.” 

\---

After Patton talked to Virgil he felt even worse. He knew he had let his fears that Roman was hiding his feelings again ruin a good thing. 

He knocked on Roman’s door. “Can I come in?” 

Roman opened the door and let him in. “Of course.”

Virgil didn’t look at Roman. “Patton talked to me about it. And...I’m sorry. I Thought you were hiding your feelings and getting worse.. Not better. I just..I guess I didn’t really expect you to be able to take care of yourself yet.” 

Roman nodded along. “Virgil...I understand. You were worried about me...But next time..Talk to me about it first?” 

Virgil blinked in surprise at hearing his own advice coming from the person he always gave it to. “Will do princy.” 

Roman smiled. “Now...It’s been awhile since I’ve regressed and honestly I miss it.”

Virgil snorted, “Is that your way of asking if I’ll watch you?”

Roman nodded. Virgil laughed, “Course I will. That’s not changed.” 

Roman beamed. “Great cuz I had an idea of a pillow fort!” He excitedly pulled out blueprints he had drawn up. He was bouncy as he talked about it. 

Virgil smiled and ruffled Roman’s hair. He was proud of him. 

He was better.


	115. ghost of music

Roman lifted his head. He was laying on his stomach coloring on the floor with Remus. “Did you hear that?” He asked.

Remus looked up. It was well past midnight. They were supposed to be in bed. 

“No?” 

There was a brief melody. Piano music. Just a few notes. Both of them froze. They looked at each other. Virgil had told them about a music ghost that eats anyone who was up in the middle of the night and out of bed. The louder and longer the music the closer he was.

They bolted to Roman’s bed and climbed in. 

The music played again. Longer this time. 

“Why didn’t it stop?” Roman asked.

Remus shrugged. They both froze as more music played. A simple piano tune. “What do we do?” Roman asked.

“Fight it!” Remus said.

“We can’t fight a ghost!” Roman said.

“Well then….let’s get help!” Remus said.

“Who won’t be mad at us for being up?” Roman asked.

Remus paused. “Jan?” 

Roman didn’t want to but the music was getting longer. He nodded and they crept out of bed and into the dark hallway. They crept forward getting more and more scared as the music got louder. 

They turned the corner and forze as they saw someone playing a piano. The ghost. The music stopped and a glowing yellow eye turned to look at them. 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” They screamed.

The lights flicked on and Janus was in front of him. “Are you both ok?”

“Jan?” Remus asked. “Where’s the ghost? Did you see it?”

“What ghost?” Janus asked.

“What’s going on?” Patton asked running into the room. 

“The ghost that Virgil told us about! The one that plays music before it gets you.” Roman said.

Janus and Patton looked at each other.

They would both have a word with Virgil in the morning. At the moment they had a couple littles to give hot chocolate too to calm them down.


	116. Balance.

He woke up and just knew something was off. He looked in the mirror and...yup...He was younger.

“Well fuck me with a chainsaw today just got interesting.” He said grinning. 

He bounded out and down the stairs. He ran into the kitchen. “What would happen if I set my arm on fire?” He asked everyone in there.

They all looked at him. “Oh. I see. You’re in middle space today.” 

“Yup!” He sat down in a chair between Logan and Virgil. He put his feet up on the table. “What are we doing today?” He asked excited.

Virgil shoved his feet off the table. “Nothing you’ll be messing up.”

“Gasp!” Remus said aloud. “I’ve been on my best behavior!” 

“You set the couch on fire yesterday.” Patton reminded him.

“Then flooded the bathroom with spiders.” Janus added.

“Then chew a hole through one of my shirts.” Roman said flatly.

Remus pointed at all of them. “Exactly! No blood! Or dismemberment! Or fire!....Ok there was fire...But two out of three isn’t bad!” 

“Who’s on Remus watching duty today?” Janus asked.

Remus crossed his arms. Oh right...babysitting. Well...fuck. “I’m still old enough to watch myself.” 

“You aren’t even safe to be left alone when you're an adult!” Virgil said.

“Of course I am!” Remus argued. He stood up and slammed his hands on the table. “I’ll prove it!” 

“Oh really?” Logan said. “And just how are you going to do that?”

“Logan watches me today. If I follow all the rules that will prove I can be trusted.” 

“I didn’t sign up for-

“Works for me!” Roman said.

“Good luck!” Virgil said.

“I didn’t agree to-”

“I’m sure you’ve got this Logan.” Patton said.

“Besides it’s your turn anyway.” Janus said.

Logan gave up, “Fine. But I highly doubt you have enough self control to not break any rules.” 

Remus smirked. “We’ll see about that!” 

\---

He was bored! “Ugh! When are you done with all this stupid paper work?” Remus groaned. It had been less than an hour since Logan started working. 

“Seven hours, fifteen minutes. Longer if you keep bothering me.” Logan said without looking up.

Remus groaned again. This was boring! He started chewing on his hands. 

“Remus no bodily harm.” Logan said.

“That’s to other people!” He whined.

“No that includes you.” Logan said firmly.

Remus slid off his chair and onto the floor where he laid in a limp mess. “Blah!” 

Logan sighed. “Do you want to play a game or something?”

“Russian roulette!” Remus offered summoning a gun.

“No weapons.” Logan reminded him.

Remus groaned and got rid of it. “Hang man! With a real person!” 

Logan stared at him. Remus sat back down in his chair and put his chin in his hands. “Fine. I’ll quit bugging you.” He muttered.

Logan frowned and turned towards him. “Are you alright?” 

Remus hid his face in his hands his voice muffled, “Fine. Go back to work or whatever...dork.” 

Logan waited. Remus peeked up at him, his eyes watery. “Ugh!”

“What’s wrong?” 

“Why do you care?” Remus snapped wiping his eyes. He crossed his arms and looked away.

“It is currently my responsibility to take care of you.” Logan said.

“No. It’s your job to make sure I don’t fuck everything up….Like always.” Remus muttered the last bit. 

This was...new.

“You have a habit of being...too much.” Logan said before seeing that that was the wrong thing to say. 

Remus shrunk a little, falling into a deeper head space. “Whatever! Just do your stupid job!” 

Logan stood, “Come on. I think you’ll do better with Patton right now.” 

Remus felt awful. Logan wanted to get rid of him. Not surprising. He wondered how long it would take for Patton to pass him off to someone else as well.

Remus wordlessly followed Logan to Patton’s door. “All yours.” 

Remus walked into the corner where there was a bean bag and collapsed into it. He felt worse now. Patton’s room always made him feel more. Normally that was fine. He even liked it but now…

He only noticed that tears were pouring down his face when Patton handed him a tissue.

“Thanks.” He muttered.

“What’s wrong kiddo?”

Remus frowned. “No one likes me.” 

“Remus…”

“See? You can’t even disagree! You all just want me gone! Or under control! Or or….stupid.” He blew his nose before popping the used tissue in his mouth. To Patton’s credit he didn’t wince.

“We want you to be you...but also to not hurt anyone else. Sometimes making sure everyone is safe comes first.” Patton said, putting his hand on Remus’s shoulder.

Remus sighed. Too much. 

\---

The next day he didn’t leave his bedroom. He was younger than he had been. About eight. 

The only thing he could really focus on was that the others preferred him not there...So...he wasn’t going to show up. He didn’t expect them to come looking for him. But he still watched the door hoping….

As the hours passed he’s hope crumbled and he sighed heavily. He hugged himself. 

“Sometimes making sure everyone is safe comes first.” 

He didn’t really want to hurt anyone. But this was his job! Didn’t they get that? It was like..like asking Virgil to stop worrying! Or logan to stop thinking! It was him! 

….

But none of them really wanted him...did they?

\---

Logan and Patton were busy telling the others what Remus had told them the previous day. “We needed to lighten up on him.” Patton said.

“So he can just light more stuff on fire?” Virgil asked.

“Maybe there’s a balance. A limit of things he can break a day?” Roman suggested.

“That’s...not a bad idea.” Janus said.

“Four?” Logan suggested.

“Seems like a lot.” Virgil said.

“Well he won’t be content with anything less!” 

“Maybe we should ask him?” 

“And get his hopes up?” Janus asked, “And If we decide this isn’t a good idea? You wanted to give him this only to take it away?”

There was a brief silence. 

“Well we need to do something!” 

“I’ll talk to him.” Roman offered.

“Alright. I guess we have a plan.”  
Roman knocked on Remus’s door and was surprised by the speed in which it opened. He was even more surprised when Remus was even smaller than yesterday.

“Remus? Why are you...Why didn’t you come get anyone?” Roman asked walking in.

Remus shrugged. “No one really wants me around.”

“No. We do...In fact we have an idea that will make all of us happier.” Roman said.

“Really?” Remus asked interested. 

“You can break the rules four times a day.” Roman said.

Remus blinked, “What?” 

“You have to warn someone of what you're going to do and have to let them fix it after fifteen minutes per incident. But other than that…” He was cut off as Remus hugged him.

“Thank you!” Remus said.

Roman laughed his arms pinned to his sides. “Ok ok! Time to let me go.” 

“Mmm nah.” Remus said.

Roman removed his arms easily. 

“Awwww.” Remus pouted before Roman picked him up and put him on his shoulders. 

“Let’s go. I think someone needs breakfast and we need to go over the new rules.” Roman said.

“Onward chariot! To victory!” Remus yelled pointing.


	117. WAIT YOU CAN SEE US???

This was bad. Thomas had no idea what he had done but Nico wasn’t really talking anymore? And was just...looking around? 

Ok.. this was bad.

“This does not seem to be going well.” Logan said popping up. 

Nico looked over and froze as he saw Logan. He looked between Thomas and Logan confused. “Two of you?” 

Logan and Thomas looked at each other. Logan waved his hand and Nico waved back.

“Interesting.” Logan said.

“Wait wait wait he can see you!?” Roman asked, showing up as well.

“Three!” Nico said then seemed proud of himself. His voice was higher.

“Greetings! I am Prince Roman!” Roman said as calmly as he could,(which wasn’t very calm.)

“I am Logan.” 

“Patton!” Patton added popping up. 

Thomas sat panicking...So of course Virgil joined the group. Nico was staring at all of them. 

Thomas shifted in his seat. “This is...going to be hard to explain. It’s kind of a secret.” 

Nico’s smile faded at the word secret. “Oh…” He looked down and blinked before looking up again.

“Weren’t there...I think I need some sleep.” Nico muttered. His voice back to normal.

Logan waved his hand in front of Nico’s face. He didn’t respond. “A temporary event.” 

“What?” 

“He can’t see us anymore?” Patton asked, disappointed. 

Thomas cleared his throat. “Well...it is getting late.” 

Nico agreed and they said their goodbyes. Thomas had a lot to think about. 

\---

The next time that happened Thomas had invited Nico over to play some video games. (What games? Frick I don’t know man. They can be playing whatever.) 

Nico won. (Whatever it was.) And turned to see people sitting on the couch behind them. “Hi!” He waved.

Virgil tensed, “Can he see us again?” 

“Yup!” Nico said.

“Oh….”

“Nice to see you again Kiddo! Or...you seeing us again!” Patton said. 

Nico nodded. Thomas was panicking. “Alright. So...you can see them sometimes. Great.” 

Nico blinked, “Don’t worry. I can keep a secret.” He put a finger to his lips. He seemed...younger.

“Are you ok?” Thomas asked.

“Oh...yeah.” Nico’s smile dropped again. “I should go…” 

“Why? We were just having fun!” Roman said.

“Roman. If he has somewhere he needs to be he should go.” Logan said.

Nico tensed, “It’s...a secret…” 

“Oh.” 

Nico thought about it, “Promise you won’t tell?” He said hopefully.

“Promise!” Roman said quickly.

“Roman!” 

“I...well sometimes I...get….younger.” Nico said in halting speech.

“You mean age regression?” Logan asked.

Nico nodded and pulled his knees to his chest. “Yeah.” 

Patton knelt down next to him, “Hey it’s ok! You aren’t alone.” 

He looked to Virgil who shifted in his seat, “I do that too.” 

“Wait what?” Thomas said.

“It’s to help you ok!?” Virgil snapped. He took a breath. “It makes me...calmer.” 

Roman wanted to say something but thought better of it. 

“So maybe we can have a play date sometime!” Nico said excitedly. 

Virgil smiled, “Yeah...I mean. If it’s ok with Thomas.”

“Aaaaaa…..Sure?” 

Nico hugged him, “thanks!” 

The remaining hesitation Thomas had faded. “No problem.”

\---

“Are you alright?” Nico asked as Thomas stopped talking in the middle of a sentence to look over to the side.

At his side, Nico realized. 

“Yeah yeah just...Roman and Virgil showed up.” Thomas said.

“Oh...I um...can’t see them right now.” Nico said.

Virgil crossed his arms, “awww.” He was regressed at the moment. 

“You’ll be able to play later.” Thomas promised.

“Yeah..I wonder why I only see them when I’m...little.” Nico said.

“Childish imagination!” Roman suggested.

“That’s a horrible Idea.” Someone said from behind them.

“Oh..Janus…” Roman said awkward. 

“Hi.” Virgil said, waving.

Janus was wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants. “What’s all this about us being seen?” 

“Not now.” Thomas said.

“What?” Nico asked.

“Just...someone else showed up.” Thomas said.

“Roman or Logan?” Nico asked.

“Ah..no. It’s someone else.” 

“Geez how many sides do you have?” Nico asked.

“Two more...that I know of.” Thomas muttered the last bit.

“Oh. Well maybe I can meet them next time.” 

Thomas’s eyes widened, “That’s...not a great idea.” Janus frowned as Thomas continued. “I mean...They aren’t the best people.” 

Janus sunk out.

Nico stared at him, “They’re part of you. They can’t be that bad.”

“You have no idea.” 

\---

Nico was nervous and excited. After all this was his first play date as a little...and it wasn’t with a real person….not that he didn’t think of them as real!

He let himself slip a little into his headspace before knocking. Thomas opened the door, dressed in his polo shirt and glasses….wait..

“Hi Logan.” Nico said.

Logan smiled, “Hello Nico. Please come in.” 

Nico stepped inside.


	118. WAIT YOU CAN SEE US??? 2

Janus watched as Nico played with Virgil on the floor. He was careful to stay hidden in the shadows so that he couldn’t see him. 

“They aren’t the best people…” 

Normally that comment wouldn’t hurt, but Janus was more sensitive when he was little. He sat higher up on the stairs hugging his knees watching. He really really wanted to go meet Nico but…

No He had to stay hidden. He could let the others see him like this. Unlike Virgil, he shapeshifted to match his age. He didn’t mean too! It just...happened.

So he was stuck as a toddler. With the mindset to match. 

“Who’s that?” Nico asked. Janus snapped his head over to see Nico pointing at him.

“Wha...janus?!?” Patton said.

Janus bolted up the stairs and hid in the hallway closet. This was bad! He stared crying.

“Hey hey it’s ok little snake.” Remus said picking him up. Janus curled up in his arms. 

“I not good...an seen me!” Janus explained.

Remus frowned. “Well let’s go say hi!” 

“No!” 

Remus ignored him and went downstairs anyway. “IS he ok?” Patton asked.

“Why is he...small?” Thomas asked.

Janus hissed at them. Nico beamed, “He’s so cute!”

Everyone froze. “What?”

“What?”

“WHAT?”

“Can I hold him?’ Nico asked. Remus wordlessly handed him over.

Janus just stared at Nico. He wasn’t...upset? He LIKED HIM???

“I like your scales!” 

“I’m a snake!” Janus said.

Nico hugged him.

“What’s your name?”

“Janus.” 

Nico looked up, “who are you?” 

“Remus.” 

“It’s nice to meet you!”

Remus blinked, “Nice...to meet….me?” He dropped down and hugged Nico too.

“Well that didn’t go as badly as I thought.” Thomas said.

Roman didn’t say anything.

Janus regressed, Nico regressed, Virgil regressed….he regressed.

Roman shook his head and smiled. He didn’t need to say anything about it. He had to stay composed. Janus got the spot light for right now, he would tell them later.

When the time was right.

\---

A couple months passed and Roman still hadn’t come clean about his regression. Was it really regression? He wasn’t a kid like Virgil, or Janus, or Nico. He was...almost a teenager. 

That’s not really age regression is it? He didn’t see anything about being a preteen on any of the age regression forams. They were all for babies or toddlers. Not...him.

He was just acting childish he wasn’t really regressing...was he?

He wanted to talk to Logan about it. Get some help in figuring it out but...What if he was wrong? Did he really want to make it seem like he was just faking it for attention. 

Was he faking it? He only figured it out after Virgil started doing it. After he saw how much attention Virgil was getting. 

No he had to be faking it. He would do better.

He did...until he slipped. He excitedly started talking about his newest idea when Virgil pointed out that, “Your voice is a little off.”

“Oh?” Roman paused. He’s voice had gotten higher. He winced, “Sorry.”

“For what?” Virgil asked confused.

“I...I didn’t mean to. It’s just..It’s your thing not mine.” Roman said.

Virgil’s eyes widened, “You’re regressed?” 

Roman winced again. “I’m sorry.”

“What? Why? Roman this is great!” Virgil said.

“R-really?”

“Yeah!” Virgil said smiling. “You are clearly older than Janus. He’s cute and all but he isn’t much fun to play with!” 

“You’d...want to play with me?” Roman asked excited.

“I mean...If you want to.” 

“YEAH!” 

Roman joined the next playdate.


	119. hiding 1

Roman didn’t mean to drop. He just...he was losing the argument and he was so upset and he just..couldn’t hold on anymore. He sunk out in the middle of Logan’s lecture. He went to the only person he trusted when he was little. 

Remus.

He hid under Remus’s bed and Remus joined him. “What’s wrong?”

“Everyone’s mad an I messed up again!” Roman said, wiping tears from his eyes. Remus put an arm around Roman and pulled him to his side. 

“Hey. It’s ok.” Remus said, “You are doing your best. That’s not messing up.” 

“Logn tinks so.” Roman said dropping more.

Remus sighed. He wasn’t going to argue with Roman right now. He needed to distract him. “Hey, Let’s play a game!” 

“A game?” 

“How about go fish?” Remus asked.

“Ok!” 

\---

Patton was looking for Roman after he ran off. He wanted to make sure he was ok. Logan was harsher than necessary today and while he still believed he was in the right, was willing to apologize to Roman.

The only problem was that no one had seen Roman for hours. The only person he hadn’t asked was Remus.

He was about to knock when he heard Roman yell, “I win again!”

“Are you sure you’re not cheating?” Remus asked in a surprisingly kind voice.

“No!” Roman said.

“You’re not sure if you're cheating?” Remus fake gasped.

Roman giggled, “No! I mean I not Sheeting!” 

“Oooooo!” Remus replied. 

Patton was confused, he knocked on the door. The laughter on the other side of the door cut off. He heard a whimper. There was a solid minute before the door opened. 

“Hi Remus. I’m looking for Roman.” Patton said peeking into the room and not seeing any sign of Roman, there were cards on the floor though.

“Why do you care where he is?” Remus said he sounded defensive. 

“Logan wants to apologize for his behaviour.” Patton said louder so that Roman could hear him and stop hiding!

“That’s nice. I’m sure it’ll make up for everything.” Remus said flatly. 

“Remus..”

“Listen. Why don’t you go tell Logan to shove his apologies up his ass!” Remus said. “We’re tired of words. We need actions! Changes!” 

“What do you mean?” Patton asked.

Remus scoffed. “I don’t have time to enlighten you.” He closed his door and locked it. 

Patton tried the door knob and sighed when he found it locked. “Just...tell Roman we’re waiting for him.”

Roman was under the bed again listening. He crawled out when Remus told him that Patton was gone.

“You don’t have to go back. You can stay here with me.” Remus offered.

Roman felt guilty for running off, “He wants to say sorry?” 

“He’s said sorry before and then did it again. They all have.” Remus reminded him.

“This time?” Roman asked hopefully.

Remus’ heart break a little at the hope in Roman’s face at the thought that they were going to be nicer to him when he tried so hard to be better himself. Remus couldn’t bring himself to crush that hope. “...Maybe…”

Roman looked at the door. His face shifting, that small shift from little to big. “I should go back.”

Remus nodded. There was no use arguing. 

Besides Roman would be back in a couple hours anyway. His heart torn out again as the cycle continued.


	120. hiding 2

“What do you think?” Roman asked excitedly.

Logan stared at him. “It’s….adequate.” 

Roman smiled. It was the first idea in a week that Logan seemed to approve of. He was flying high...until Logan continued speaking. 

“Of course it still needs work. But as a first draft it’s fine.” 

Roman’s heart sunk. This wasn’t the first draft. This was the finished product! This was…

This was fine. “I’m glad to hear that.” Roman said, forcing his voice to not waver. 

Logan nodded. “I need we’re done for today.” 

Roman watched him walk away and let his smile drop. He sighed and closed his eyes. He rubbed his face and tried to pull himself together. “You ok?”

He looked up to see Virgil watching him. “Fine.” 

“You don’t look fine.” Virgil said.

“It’s fine. I swear.” Roman said. And it was, wasn't it? This was normal. If anything it was better than normal. What reason did he have to be upset about it?

Virgil looked him over, “You need a break.”

“I still have to...finish this.” The last two words come out broken. He didn’t have to finish it, he had to re do it. Fix it.

Virgil took the notepad from him. He scanned through it. “...It’s….nice.”

The hesitation in Virgil’s voice broke Roman. He slipped into Little space. He teared up. Virgil stared shocked. “Whoa! Whoa! Ah..shit! Don’t cry!” 

Roman hid his face in his hands as he cried. Virgil cursed again. “Patton!” He called.

Patton stuck his head in. “What do you…” He saw Roman. “What happened?”

“I mess up agin.” Roman wailed. Virgil and Patton stared in shock at the shift in tone and words.

“I think we broke him.” Virgil said panicked.

“What do we do?” Patton asked.

“Don’t look at me!” 

Roman whimpered from the yelling and ran off. “Ro don’t leave!”

He ran into Logan and knocked them both down. “Roman if you could watch where you-” He was cut off as he took in the terror in Roman’s face. Roman scrambled to his feet and kept running. Logan was stunned and it took Virgil offering him a hand for him to snap out of it and get to his feet.

“What happened?” Logan asked.

“I don’t know.” Virgil said.

“Well we need to follow him. Find out what’s wrong.” Patton said.

\---

Remus looked up as the door opened and he was instantly concerned as he saw Roman who slammed the door shut before sitting down on the floor in front of it.

“Roman what happened?” Remus asked kneeling down next to him. Roman hugged him and sobbed. 

“I did it. But Logn said not good enuf. Den V didn’t like it edter.” Roman explained.

At this point the others had gotten to Remus’ door and could hear Roman and Remus through it.

“Hey. it’s ok.” Remus said trying to calm him.

“No! I kep mess up! Always!” Roman yelled before breaking down into more sobs.

The three outside looked at each other guilty. “What’s going on with him?” Virgil whispered, “Why’s he talking like that?”

“A mental breakdown?” Logan suggested.

“Because of us?” Patton asked wide eyed.

“WE can hear you!” Remus called. They heard Roman whimper. 

“Roman we’re sorry.” Patton said.

“EAT A DICK!” Remus snapped back. He opened the door, “You always say sorry but you never change! Never actually listen to him! I’d think you would be more careful about that.” He pointed to Logan who shifted awkwardly. 

They peeked in the room and Roman wasn’t in sight. 

“What’s going on with him?” Virgil asked.

“He’s coping.” Remus snapped. “Because you all make him NEED to.” 

“Why didn’t he say anything?” Virgil shot back.

Remus glared at him. “He has! Multiple times! None of you cared enough to really listen!” 

“Re stop.” Roman’s voice came from under the bed. 

“No I’m not going to-”

“Scary me.” Roman said quieter. Remus’ anger faded. He sighed.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” Remus said going over and dropping to the floor to look under the bed at Roman. The others inched their way into the room.

Roman peeked out at them. He looked scared of them. That sure made them uncomfortable. 

“Roman we really are sorry.” 

“I didn’t mean to upset you.” Virgil said.

Roman looked down at the floor, “It’s ok. I did bad.” 

Logan frowned, “You didn’t. If anything you have been doing some of your best work lately.” 

Roman stared at him mouth open, “weally?” 

“Why is he talking like that?” 

“Fuck off!” Remus snapped.

“Re….” Roman put a hand on Remus’ shoulder.

Remus huffed, “He age regresses.” 

“How young are you right now?” Logan asked.

Roman hesitated before holding up three fingers. 

“Oh.”

“Oh is right! Now you can all talk to him later! Right now get out!” Remus said.

Patton stared to protest and Remus summoned a weapon (of which I totally thought of). They left.

Roman crawled out from under the bed. 

“Are you ok with them knowing?” Remus asked concerned.

Roman curled up in Remus’ lap. “I guess.” He shrugged.

“I could hit them hard enough that they don’t remember it.” Remus offered.

Roman giggled, “No!” 

“Oh come on! Just a little thump upside the head?” Remus asked.

“Re!” Roman laughed, “Dat’s bad!”

Remus stuck his tongue out. “Try and stop me tot!”

Roman stuck his tongue out too. He looked at the door and frowned. “What if they mean about it?”

Remus sighed and hugged him, “Then I’ll give them hell about it.” 

Roman hummed, “Mkay.” 

\----

Roman saw them all at breakfast the next day. They all froze and looked at him when he walked in. He took a breath, “Any chance we just..forget yesterday happened?” He asked meekly.

Patton tackled hugged him. “I’m so sorry!” 

“We didn’t know we were pushing you so much.” Logan said.

“It’s...fine! Really! I just have to learn how to handle it!” Roman said.

Virgil slammed his hands on the table, “No you don’t! You shouldn’t have to find a way to Cope with us like that!” 

“Sorry.” Roman said on instinct. 

Patton pulled back, “We are going to change.” 

“Really?” Roman asked hopefully. 

“We want you to be happy.” Logan said.

Roman smiled. Then paused. “I don’t suppose you would be willing to….nevermind.”

“What do you need?” Patton asked determined. 

Roman didn’t look at any of them, “Umm...watch me when I’m..little?” 

“Won’t we cause you to be little?” Virgil asked.

“Well.. I don’t regress because of you all every time…. Sometimes it’s just normal stress.” Roman said. He watched them all look at each other…. This was a bad idea. “Just forget I said anything! It was a stupid idea!” 

“Roman.” He looked up at Logan. “We would be honoured.”

Roman smiled. 

Remus listened from around the corner and he took a breath for the first time since Roman walked in there. He was sure he would have to go in there and bust some heads. He might still have to if they didn’t take care of Roman right. But for now he was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. 

Maybe things would get better.


	121. hiding 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> YEETS A HAPPY ENDING OVER,.

Remus was happy for Roman. Really! He found his place! He even started going to one of the others instead of him…..which was fine of course! He wasn’t upset...or hurt...or betrayed.

He sat on his bed. Six months had passed since Roman had come by to see him. He still saw him around it but it was different now...Roman didn’t need Remus to protect him. He wasn’t his safe haven anymore. And...Remus missed that.

It wasn’t like he never hung out with Roman but...Roman wasn’t regressed then. It was different. More strained. 

“Are you ok?” Roman asked.

“I...no.” Remus said.

“What’s wrong?” 

Remus paused, “Just...creative block.” He lied. “It’ll pass.”

Roman nodded sympathetically. “Let me know if you need anything ok?” 

I need you to need me. Remus thought. But he didn’t say it. He couldn’t say it. Roman was happy now. He spent so long wanting this, Remus was not going to mess it up! 

\---

He came downstairs to find an obviously little Roman playing with Patton on the floor. 

‘Great job!” Patton praised Roman who giggled.

Remus closed his eyes for a moment and opened them to see Patton looking up at him concerned. He noticed the wetness on his cheeks and was quick to wipe the tears away.

“Remus are you ok?” Roman looked up at his brother’s name.

His face lit up, “Re!” 

Remus turned and went back upstairs. 

He almost got to his door when someone tackled him from behind. “No! You gotta play too!” 

“You...want me to play with you?” Remus asked.

Roman looked at him, a bit more aware than he normally was when he was little. “Of course.”   
Remus beamed and picked Roman up. “RE!” 

“Away we go!” 

\---

“We need to talk.” Roman said.

Remus looked up at him from where he was laying on the floor. “Yeah?” Roman didn’t really seek him out anymore so he was intrigued. 

Roman said down on the floor cross legged and sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“I haven’t been spending as much time with you as I should and Didn’t see how that was affecting you. So..I’m sorry.” Roman said.

Remus laughed. “Wha-wha-what? Are you kid-kidding me? You don’t have to worry about me! I’m fine!” 

“No you aren’t.” Roman said.

“Really I’m…” The look Roman gave him cut him off. “Fine you caught me. I miss taking care of you. Happy now?” 

“Re why didn’t you tell me?” Roman asked.

Remus shrugged. “I didn’t want you to feel like you owe me something.” 

“Owe you...Remus!” Roman smacked Remus’s arm. “Are you serious right now? That’s not how this works!” 

“I know!”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?” 

“BECAUSE YOU DON’T NEED ME!” Remus yelled. He took a breath. “You don’t need me around anymore. It would be selfish of me to ask for you to let me take care of you if you didn’t want that.” 

Now it was Roman’s turn to laugh. “Of course I still want you to take care of me! I thought you wanted a break from my constant problems.” 

“Why would I want a break from that? It’s the most interesting part of my day!” 

“Really?” Roman asked.

“Really.” Remus said.

Roman hugged him. “Ok.” 

“So…”

“Yes. I still want you to take care of me.” Roman said. “I really do.” 

Remus hugged him back.


	122. Slip of the tongue. Or Janus says something when tired.

It never should have happened. It was just a slip of the tongue. 

“Stop acting like a child all the time!” 

But the damage was done. 

And now Janus watched as Patton’s eyes teared up before he ran away. A hand half stretched out, reaching for him. He wished he could erase those words, take back the last few minutes and do better.

But there was no going back. Just moving forward.

As Patton’s caregiver he knew better than to yell at Patton for acting childish. He let a lack of sleep and stress push him into snapping. No one was happy with him. 

Patton avoided him completely. To the point Janus couldn’t even find him for a week and no one else was helping him hunt the other down. 

That was until he bumped into him. “Patton wait!” He cried as Patton started to run off again. 

“Yes?” Patton asked. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. I was just...stressed and-”

“I don’t want your excuses.” Patton said hugging himself. “I don’t want...I want to forget it happened and move on...Ok?” 

Janus agreed. It didn’t happen like that. Things were still tense. Even when Patton regressed he was distant. Closed off. 

Janus didn’t know how to fix it. 

\--

“Well you really hurt him. Of course it’s going to take time for him to trust you again.” Roman said.

“I just slipped up.” 

“Did you really think that?” Roman asked.

“No! I just...I was tired.” 

“Of him?” 

“Of everything.” Janus said.

Roman frowned. “Are you alright.” 

“Doesn’t matter now. I need to go take care of Patton.” Janus said.

Roman grabbed his arm, “You need to be taken care of too.” 

Janus smiled, “Maybe later.” He left. 

\---

Logan caught him up far too late. Or rather early, the next day. He’s anger faded into concern at Janus’ state. He’s clothing was wrinkled, he had bags under his eyes even the snake side which Logan didn’t think possible. 

“Are you alright?”

Janus looked up and blinked a few times trying to make his vision focus. “Hmm? oh...Patton?...no sorry Logan.” 

“I think you need to sit down.” Logan said. 

Janus waved him off, “I’m fine. I gotta fix this.” 

“Fix?”

“I messed up. I gotta..” He yawned and staggered into the wall. He slid down so he was curled up against it. “Sorry.” His eyes closing.

Logan picked him up and took him to the couch. “What happened?” Patton asked from the stairs.

“He passed out.” Logan explained.

Patton hurried down the rest of the stairs. “Will he be alright?” 

Janus shifted in his sleep, waking up a little. “Sorry...I didn’t...mean it.” 

Patton sat down next to him. “It’s ok.”

“No. Gotta..fix it.” Janus muttered half way between sleeping and waking.

“You regret it. A lot more than I thought.” Patton said. “I forgive you.” 

Janus focused tired eyes on him before smiling and falling into a deeper state of rest.

“Do you really?” Logan asked.

Patton nodded. “He didn’t really mean it.” He watched Janus sleep for a few seconds before standing. “Come on. Bed time for you too.” 

“I’m fine.” Logan argued immediately. 

Patton managed to not smile at that. Barely. Maybe things would go back to normal now.


	123. little afraid.

Roman and Virgil were playing with legos on the floor as Logan looked through a picture book about stars. It was rare for them to all regress at the same time, thankfully Janus and Patton worked together to watch them when that happened. Normally just taking turns. 

Janus sat with Logan reading what little words there were in the book as Patton helped build a castle with Roman and Virgil. It was a perfectly peaceful afternoon. A happy family. All together.

Remus watched from the stairs. He had been banned from interacting with the ‘littles’ due to Janus and Patton unsure if he could remain PG around them. The only problem with that? Remus was little too.

No one knows because he never told them. Why would they believe him? Even when he was little he still said and thought gross things. They never even noticed when he regressed other than him getting quieter and more likely to listen to whatever anyone wants him to do. 

“Remus?” He looked up and saw Roman standing at the base of the stairs watching him. “You wanna play too?” 

Remus’ face lit up before he saw Patton frowning. “Um...no thanks. I’m ok here.” He muttered looking down.

“Are you feeling ok Kiddo?” Patton asked noting Remus being quieter than normal.

He shrugged. “I’m ok...Just..”

“Just?” Patton asked.

Remus sighed and stood up, “You won’t believe me.” He walked up the stairs. 

Patton looked over to see Janus watching. “Can you?”

Janus nodded. “I’ll be back.” He promised to Logan. 

“Mkay.” Logan said not even looking up from the book. 

Janus knocked on the door. “Remus?” 

“Yeah?” Remus opened the door.

“What’s wrong?”

Remus opened his mouth before closing it and shaking his head, “Doesn’t matter.” He muttered.

“If it’s upsetting you then it does.” 

“I’m…..little too.” He whispered the last bit.

Janus stared long enough for Remus to shrink in on himself. “Oh..I see.”

Remus teared up, “I’m sorry.”

“No. No no. You aren’t in trouble.” Janus said quickly. “Can I come in?” 

Remus nodded slowly before opening the door more. Janus stepped into Remus’ room. “I didn’t expect it. But I should have seen it.” 

“I hid it good.” Remus said.

There was no way that he hid it that well. Janus and Patton just weren’t looking. “You did. But you don’t have to anymore.” 

“I don’t?” Remus asked hopeful. Janus felt like kicking himself for causing Remus to feel so hesitant. 

“No You don’t. Do you want to come down and play?” Janus said.

“Really?” Remus’ face lit up. Then it dropped, “Oh..but I’m not allowed.”

Janus held out a hand. “You are now. I’ll explain everything to Patton.”

Remus smiled again. “Ok!” 

Janus pulled Remus into a quick hug before taking him downstairs. Janus talked to Patton as Remus sat down to play with Roman and Virgil.

“You play now?” Roman asked.

“Yeah!” Remus agreed.

Virgil frowned, “I don’t wanna play this anymore.” 

“Ok. What do you wanna play?” Roman asked.

“Leap frog!” Virgil said.

“Oh! With real frogs!” Roman said summoning one forgetting one very important thing.

Remus did not like frogs. “I’ll pass.” He whispered.

Roman rolled his eyes and shoved the frog in Remus’ face. “You gotta play!” 

Remus pushed the frog away. “No!”

“Yes!” 

“I said no!” Remus yelled. 

“What’s going on?” Janus snapped.

“Remus won’t play!” Roman said, still holding the frog. 

Remus was shaking as he stared at the green threat. Janus snapped his fingers and the frog vanished. “Hey!” Roman yelled.

“Roman you know Remus doesn’t like frogs.” Patton reminded him. Apparently that dislike turned to fear in littlespace. 

Roman looked at his brother. “Oh...sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.” 

“It’s ok.” Remus said looking down. 

“Do you still wanna play?” Roman asked.

Remus shook his head and got up, “I’m gonna take a nap.” Before anyone could protest he ran off again.

Patton went after him this time. He was hiding under his bed. “It’s ok now.”

“No. I...I got scared.” He whispered.

Patton pulled Remus out and onto his lap. “It’s ok to be scared sometimes.” He said petting Remus’ hair.

“I don’t like it.” 

“No one really likes being scared.” Patton said.

“Virgil does.” 

“Virgil likes fun scary. Not real scary.” Patton said.

“Oh….” Remus curled up against Patton’s chest. How did they not see this before? 

“Do you still want to take a nap?” Patton asked.

Remus yawned, “Yeah...I’m tired.” 

“Ok. Let’s get you into bed.” 

\---  
Turns out Remus was while the best behaved, the hardest to take care of. He had a tendency to not speak up when he needed something and got scared easily. When he got scared he ran off and hid. He was an annoyingly good hider.

“We can not keep losing him!” Patton said looking behind the couch.

“Think we should put a bell on him?” Janus suggested drily.

“I’m just worried about him ok?” Patton snapped.

Remus shrunk farther into his hiding spot behind the t.v. He whimpered. Janus heard him but didn’t walk over yet.

“We both are. But you don’t need to yell.” He said calmly.

Patton took a breath. “You’re right. I just...I get so scared when he’s gone. What if he gets hurt?”

“I’m fine.” Remus said from behind the t.v.

“Remus!” 

He crawled out and Patton dropped down and hugged him. “You gotta stop running off all the time!” 

“I...I know..I’m sorry I scared you.” Remus said. “I didn’t know you could get scared.”

“Everybody gets scared sometimes.” Janus said. Patton nodded.

“Oh…” 

“But that doesn’t mean they can’t be brave.” Patton said.

“Brave?” 

“You can be brave. Like when you want to run but you don’t.” Janus explained.

“Like when Virgil got a cut and I wanted to help but I was also scared?” Remus asked.

“Exactly like that!” 

“I guess I can be brave.” 

Janus and Patton smiled at him. 

Maybe it was time to stop running and hiding.


	124. Redux Regression 1

It took a bit of talking afterwards but Roman and Janus finally shook hands and apologized for what they said. Patton was proud of both of them. “Now I think we need to go check on Logan.” 

“I think we all have something we have to apologize for.” Janus said.

Roman opened his mouth to argue but in the end agreed. 

They arrived at Logan’s door and….he didn’t open it when they knocked. That was understandable. But that didn’t mean they would be giving up.

“Please open the door?” Patton asked.

“No.” Logan said from the other side. “Go away!” 

“We are sorry for how we treated you today...and recently.” Roman said.

“I do regret what I did.” Janus said. Roman elbowed him. “But I don’t think you need to be heard.” 

“Go away.” This time it was more hesitating. 

“Please?” Patton asked again.

Logan opened the door a little. “You should come back later.” He muttered not looking at them.

“What? Why?” 

Patton’s eyes widened, “Logan are you little right now?” 

“He’s what?” Janus asked.

Roman groaned, “He age regresses.” 

Logan shifted, “Yes.” 

“Do you need someone to watch you?” Patton asked.

Logan glared at them, “None of you!” 

“We said sorry!” Roman said.

Logan huffed and slammed the door shut. 

“I hate when he gets like this.” Roman said crossing his arms.

“We did hurt his feelings.” 

“So we just leave him alone?” Roman asked.

“Yes. We respect his wishes.” Janus said.

They left.

Logan sat down with his back against the door.

Stupid. He was supposed to ask Roman or Patton if they would be his caregiver. Instead he yelled at them. 

He wiped at the tears in his eyes. He didn’t need anyone. 

Especially not people who didn’t listen! 

He was fine on his own! He was…

He was…

Alone.


	125. Coping

Roman was bleeding. Nothing new. He had fought a monster and got injured. Again nothing new. The adrenaline from the fight wipes away self doubt and fear. He won. He was strong, brave, confident. 

At least that’s normally how he would feel. But lately...his coping method wasn’t working. It just...made him feel worse. 

He needed something new. Something imaginative. Something carefree. Something that fun. Something like….

“Age regression?” Logan asked. “Why do you want to know about that?”

“I..well...Want to try it.” Roman admitted. 

“I see.” Logan said.

“And I wanted your help because….” Roman took a breath. “You’re the smartest person I know and know you won’t tell anyone else.”

Logan blinked, “I suppose I can help.” 

Roman was relieved. Unfortunately regression didn’t come naturally to him. It took him awhile before he and Logan figured out that he Age dreamed instead of Age regressed. 

Roman didn’t mind the difference until Virgil came out as a little. 

“Oh I do that too!” Roman said excited to finally share. 

“You age regress?” Patton asked surprised. He had been taking care of Virgil and was surprised that he never noticed Roman regress.

“Well kinda of? I age dream.” Roman said.

“That’s not the same thing!” virgil said angry. “You’re just faking it!” 

“No… I just.” Roman paused. Was he faking it?

“Virgil. That’s not very nice.” Patton scolded. Then Patton turned towards Roman. “And you don’t need to make up something for attention.”

“I’m not making it up!” Roman said.

“He isn’t.” Logan said. “He’s been age dreaming for awhile.” 

“Still isn’t real.” Virgil muttered.

Roman felt awful. He started to leave. Logan stood up angry. “Of course it’s real. It’s just as real and valid as Age regression!” He was fuming. 

“Lo It’s ok. It doesn’t matter.” Roman muttered.

“Roman no it isn’t. This is-”

“Over. I’ll stop doing it if it bugs Virgil that much.” Roman said. 

Logan shook his head, “No you will not! You need this.” 

“Why would he need it?” Patton asked.

Roman shifted, “I…”

“Look just as long as I don’t have to deal with it. I don’t care.” Virgil said. 

Roman looked away. “Right...yeah alright.” 

\---

Logan knocked on Roman’s door. “Are you alright?” 

“Come in.” Logan walked in and stopped when he saw Roman was bandaging a wound on his side.

“What happened?” 

Roman didn’t look up, “It’s nothing. I’ve had worse.” 

“What happened?” Logan demanded.

“I got in a fight. I lost. It happens.” Roman said shortly.

“I thought you stopped doing that!” Logan said.

Roman wouldn’t look up at Logan even when he was standing right in front of him. 

“I need it if I’m not going to be…” Roman shook his head. “I should have given up on that age stuff when it didn’t work the first time around.” 

“Age dreaming is still a better coping method than this!” Logan waved his hand at Roman’s side. “You shouldn’t give it up just because Virgil and Patton don’t understand it!”

“I don’t know.” Roman said. “Maybe I am just faking it. It’s not really real like Virgil’s regression is it?” 

Logan sighed heavily and sat down next to Roman. “It’s different yes. But that doesn’t make it less real.” 

Roman finally looked at Logan. “Really?” He asked in his smaller voice. 

“Of course little prince.” Roman hugged him ignoring the pain in his side.

“Now, let’s get you in some soft pajamas and get you a snack. Mm?”

“Ok!” Roman said excited. 

Logan smiled. Maybe it was different for Roman. But that didn’t make it any less real. Virgil and Patton would see that in time.


	126. fluff pile.

(This is just going to be like, eight pages of fluff. There isn’t really any plot. I just needed this in my life sooooo…. Yeah. enjoy! *yeets bag of cuddles and babies at you*)

(Roman)

The pillow fort was made, the movies chosen. Popcorn popped. Apples sliced. Hot coco made.Smores baked. All that was left was for everyone to snuggle up and enjoy movie night.

Logan was the first down, wearing astronaut pj’s his paci on a star clip. “Cocoa?” He asked excitedly. Roman laughed and ruffled Logan’s hair. It was his night to babysit while all the others got to be little. He didn’t mind it at all. If anything it was one of his favorite moments to shine! 

He pulled out all the stops, almost as if it was a friendly competition between all of them to see who could do the best job babysitting. 

Roman handed Logan his mug, the one with simple math equations written on it like it was a chalkboard. “Tanks!” Roman smiled, Logan was in one of his younger head spaces. 

“Where’s everyone else?” Roman asked.

“Soon.” Logan answered holding his mug carefully with both hands. Roman nodded.

“Do you need help to get settled into the fort?” Roman asked. 

“I gots it!” Logan said, setting his mug down on the floor and collapsing into a bean bag before picking the mug back up. 

Patton came down with Remus next. Patton in his cat onesie, Remus was wearing a zombie one. “Hi hi!” Patton waved. Remus copied him waving. 

Remus going nonverbal when he was little. Roman waved back, He held out their mugs. Patton’s had ‘I like you a latte’ On it. Remus had eyes that were always looking at you. 

“Hot chocolate!” Patton said happily. Remus smiled too. “Thanks!” Patton said as Remus just nodded. 

“Enjoy!” Roman said eyes going to the stairs as Janus came down. He was wearing yellow and black ‘suit’ pajamas. 

“Hot cocoa?” Roman asked. Janus smiled before looking at the snake mug. Roman noticed his hesitation. “Do you want it in a sippy cup?”

“Please?” Janus asked shily. 

Roman waved his hand and a yellow sippy cup appeared. He poured the Hot chocolate in before closing it. He handed it over. 

“Thank you.” Janus said quietly before going and taking his place in the corner away from everyone. 

Patton and Remus sitting next to Logan. Roman smiled before doing a quick head count and coming up messing one. 

He frowned and went hunting for Virgil.

“Stpid boton!” Virgil growled from his room. Roman knocked before sticking his head in. 

“You don’t ok stormcloud?” Roman asked. He saw Virgil with his skeleton onesie misbuttoned as he tried to straighten it out. 

“Help?” Virgil asked looking up at him. 

Roman stepped in and quickly rebuttoned the onesies before just picking Virgil up. “Let’s ok watch a movie ok?” 

“Mkay.” Virgil said hanging on to Roman as they went downstairs.

He got Virgil settled with his bat mug of hot cocoa before pulling out the snacks and turning on the movie, (Aristocats.) He settled down next to Janus in the corner. Janus curled up against him sideways, not afraid of spilling his drink. Roman hugged him with one arms as he’s eyes scanned over the others for any problems. Seeing none he turned back to the movie. 

Perfect.

(Logan)

He took them all ‘camping’. (It was in the common rooms). He put glow in the dark stars on the ceiling and sleeping bags on the floor. There was a lantern on the floor that acted as the ‘campfire.’

Everyone was in their sleeping bags with their stuffed animals. 

“Story?” Virgil asked from behind his paci. His arms are filled with a giant stuffed cat. 

“I was planning on talking about some constellations.” Logan said.

“Oh.” 

“What a con-steal-thing?” Patton asked.

“It’s a set of stars that makes a picture.” 

“I like pictures!” Roman said. 

“Can we just sleep?” Janus muttered. “I’m tired.” He rubbed his eyes.

Remus frowned at that. Patton looked at him. “Do you wanna hear about the Con-steal-thingies?” 

“Constellations.” Logan corrected.

Remus nodded holding his plush squid to his chest. Half of his face hidden behind it. 

Logan spend about an hour talking about them. The stars that made them up. (Whatever else you talk about constellations…..) Before he noticed that everyone had fallen asleep except Roman who was still wide awake listening. He was staring at Logan with awe. 

“You’re so smart!” Logan paused before smiling. 

“Thank you. Now I believe it’s time to sleep.” Logan said.

“Awww.” Roman groaned. Logan paused again.

“Do you want to see something?” Logan asked.

Roman nodded excitedly. Logan turned off the lantern. Roman looked up and saw the glow in the dark stars. He laid down staring at them. “Wow...You’re the best!” 

“Sleep now.” Logan said, opening his own sleeping bag. 

Roman nodded, still staring at the stars. He lifted his hands as if reaching for the stars. “I wish I was a star.” 

“You already are.” Logan promised. 

Roman giggled before yawning. He snuggled deeper into his sleeping bag and let his eyes drift closed. 

(Patton)

The playground was made to be larger than a normal one so that when they played on it they felt smaller. 

Patton watched from a bench as they all ran around playing. Remus (as always when he was little) stuck near Patton and was playing with toys around the bench. 

Virgil was building a sand village with Logan in the sand box. Roman was pushing Janus on the swings. 

They would play for another hour or so before Patton would call them over for lunch and a nap. 

Remus tugged on Patton’s pant leg and handed him a barbie doll. He flapped his hands and pointed at the doll then to Patton. 

“You want me to play too?” 

Remus nodded and started bouncing. He flapped his hands again and grabbed another doll whose hair he was carefully brushing out.

Patton got down onto the ground with him and put a pair of shoes on the barbie before putting it in the dumptruck. 

Remus frowned and shook his head. He dumped the barbie out and put a handful of grass in the truck. 

Patton laughed. “Ok then. She doesn’t go there.” 

Remus nodded and pointed at the grass and then at the truck. He pulled up more grass and put it in. 

“Grass goes in there.” Patton clarified. 

Remus shook his head.

“....trash?” Patton guessed. Remus smiled and he knew he got it right. He helped pull up some more grass till it was full.

Roman and Janus walked over, “Food?” 

“Oh right!” Patton got up. Remus frowned. Patton ruffled his hair, “We can play again in a little bit kiddo.” 

Remus huffed.

“Virgil! Logan! Lunch time!” Both of them ran over. Patton had packed sandwiches and juice boxes. 

Everyone was quick to eat except Remus who kept playing.

“It’s time to eat now.” 

Remus stared at him before. “N-n-no.” He forced out. Patton stared at him stunned. Remus never spoke in little space.

“What do you mean no?” Patton asked.

Remus pointed at the toys. “I know you want to keep playing but food is important too.”

“Pffft!” 

“Remus.” Patton warned.

Remus started to tear up. Patton pulled him into his lap, “How about you eat while you play? Would that work?” 

Remus nodded. He tried to put a handful of grass in his mouth. “NO! Nono! We’re eating sandwiches not grass!”

Remus sighed but accepted the sandwich.

Lunch was over quickly and there were a few yawning faces. “Time to go back.” 

Remus crossed his arms and pouted as Patton picked up the toys. “Come on Remus.” 

Remus turned his head away. Patton sighed and slowly started to walk away. Remus made a panicked noise and ran over, grabbing Patton’s hand. “You can keep playing back home...ok?” 

Remus reluctantly nodded. 

(remus)

Painting! What better activity was there for a bunch of littles? He thought. And the paint was edible...at least he ate it plenty of times with no problems.

Logan was busy carefully painting solid shapes. Virgil was painting colored cobwebs. Roman was making a castle with himself standing on the top of it. Patton was painting everyone. Janus was painting...himself. 

Not on canvas. No he was covering himself in paint. 

“We can play in the paint later.” Remus said. 

“Bap!” Janus giggled as he slapped Remus in the face covering his face in blue paint. Remus licked some of it off. 

“I’m supposed to tell you off for that. But it was funny so I won’t.” Remus said picking Janus up and carrying him into the kitchen to clean both of them up. 

Janus giggled as he was cleaned up and ‘helped’ Remus get clean by hitting him in the face with the wet rag. “Thank you for helping little snake!”

“Welcom.” Janus said swinging his legs from where he sat on the counter. 

“Help!” roman yelled. Remus picked up janus again and carried him back in. Roman had knocked over a paint jar all over his painting. He looked up at Remus panicked.

“Uh oh.” Patton said looking over. He patted Roman’s head trying to comfort him.

“Aww it’s ok. I can fix it!” Remus promised. He got a good look at what Roman had painted before he left and easily repainted it on a new canvas and replaced the ruined one. Roman inspected it closely before beaming. 

“Thank you!” 

“No problem.” 

“Finisheded.” Logan said firmly. Remus looked at the carefully stacked shapes that filled the canvas perfectly. 

“Good job!” Remus gave him a small hug.

“I wanna hug too!” Virgil said.

“Hey! Me too!” Patton said.

Remus grinned before grabbing both of them and pulling them close. He squished them together. 

“Cuddle puddle!” Janus yelled jumping on them. 

Remus laughed as Roman and Logan joined. 

(janus)

It was easy, turn on the t.v pull out some toys and just sit back. Janus didn’t put much work into watching them. Even if Roman and Virgil competed for the ‘best’. He preferred to just have a relaxed non stressed time watching them.

Patton was showing Remus how to build a tower of blocks. Logan was reading a story book. Roman was watching sofia the first with Virgil.

All and all a very easy and relaxed afternoon. 

Just the way he liked it. Logan crawled over with his book. “Ummm.”

“Do you want me to read to you?” Janus asked.

“It got big words.” Logan muttered embarrassed. 

“Of course.” Janus had him sit down on the couch next to him. He put an arm around Logan and opened the book. 

He didn’t notice Patton and Remus had come over to listen till Patton tugged on his pant leg. “Can we see the pictures too?” 

He smiled, “Of course.” He tilted the book so they could see too. 

It wasn’t long before Roman and Virgil wandered over as well. 

He hadn’t planned on story time, but he had no problems with the change in schedule. 

(Virgil)

You’d think that cooking would be what Patton would suggest for them. But no, Virgil set them all up decorating sugar cookies for halloween. 

There were bats, pumpkins, and cats. All being colored in rainbow colors. 

“It’s you!” Roman said holding up a bat cookie that was colored with purple.

“Thanks.” Virgil said taking the cookie.

Roman laughed, “I’mma make me next.” 

“Oh?” 

“Yeah. I’m red bat...to match you.” Roman said.

“We’re cats!” Patton said. Virgil turned to see Patton and Remus with frosting whiskers. 

“OH! Na….yeah! You are! Good job!” He bit his lip trying not to laugh. 

Janus drew an angry pumpkin and Logan made a happy pumpkin. “It’s important to have friends.” Logan informed him off hand. 

“Yes. Very.” Virgil agreed.

“Patton! We suppose to eat the frosten on the cookies!” Roman said.

Patton was licking the frosting off his butter knife. “Mmm? BUt it’s GOOD!” 

Virgil broke down laughing.

“V! It’s not funny! He’s not following the rules!” Roman said angry.

“Yeah!” Logan agreed looking up.

“He can...have some frosting.” Virgil said between laughs.

Janus took a bite out of his cookie. “It’s good!”

“See?” Patton said pointing. 

Roman grumbled under his breath as he went back to coloring his red bat. 

All in all a very successful cooking play date.

\----

“So who won?” Roman asked.

Janus rolled his eyes, “Does it matter?”

“I think everyone won!” Patton said.

“I mean...the park was fun.” Virgil said.

“So was cooking.” Patton said.

“The camping thing was fun.” Roman admitted.

“I enjoyed painting.” Janus said quietly.

“Movie night was great!” Remus said.

“I enjoyed reading with Janus.” Logan said.

“Oh yeah! That was great!” Remus agreed.

“It was nice.” Virgil admitted.

“So Janus won?” 

Janus looked up, “What?”

“Good job.” Roman said. “I’ll get you next round.”

“This isn’t...oh forget it.” Janus rolled his eyes, secretly very pleased with being voted the best.


	127. Remy needs a break 1

Remy needed a break. He collapsed down onto the couch between Logan and Remus. “Ugh. I am so done.”

Logan looked up at him. “What’s wrong?” 

“I’m stressed out ok?” Remy said.

“You need to destress then.” Logan said.

Remy rolled his eyes, “Any ideas wise guy?” 

“Why not regress?” Remus suggested.

Remy looked at him. “With you around?”

“Hey! I’m great with kids! No filter matches up well!” Remus said proudly.

“Huh.” 

“It...is true.” Logan said.

Remy thought about it. “Ok. What’s the harm? I’ll try it.” 

“Awesome!” Remus pumped a hand in the air before snapping his fingesr and Remy was in pair of coffee bean pajama pants and shirt that said, “Don’t talk to me before my coffee.”

“Alright. Now what?” Remy asked.

“Have you never regressed before?” Logan asked.

“Not on purpose.” Remy said.

“Well how do you do it normally?” Remus asked.

“I just..do?” 

Logan thought about it. “Well perhaps do actives you normally do when regressed with do the trick.” 

“Yeah! What do you like doing?” Remus asked.

Remy thought about it. “Ice cream?” 

“You eat ice cream?” Logan clarified.

“Normally yeah. I don’t really follow any rules when I’m little. No one there to stop me.” Remy said.

Remus and Logan glanced at each other. “Well we can work on that.”

Remy got the feeling he wasn’t going to be regressing alone and just eating ice cream till he was sick anymore. 

“Well what else do you do?” Remus asked.

“I don’t know...Sleep? Color sometimes…” Remy trailed off as Remus held up a drawing pad and crayons. 

“Here.” Remus handed them over.

“Thanks.” Remy said, suddenly shy. He opened the crayons and pulled the black one before starting to draw. It wasn’t really working but it also was? It was different than normal. It wasn’t a sudden drop more of a gentle slide.

“Feeling smaller?” Logan asked softly.

Remy hummed in agreement. He ended up drawing himself. “Look!” He held it up to show Remus. 

Remus patted his head, “good job! You’re a real artist!” 

“Thankies!” Remy said before slapping a hand over his mouth. “I mean..thanks.”

“You don’t have to worry about little speak.” Remus said. “Logan does it all the time.”

“Remus!” Logan said.

“What?” Remus asked.

Logan sighed. “It’s true. But I still don’t like it.” 

“It’s cute!” 

“I am not cute!” Logan argued back. 

Remy giggled. He was feeling much better. Safer than normal too. 

Maybe later he’d ask if either of them were up for being his caregiver. Who knows? Maybe Remus really was good with kids.


	128. Remy needs a break 2

Remy had been pacing outside Remus’ door for half an hour. 

“Are you coming in or staying out there?” Remus yelled out at him. Remy jumped. 

“Can I come in?” He asked.

Remus opened the door. “Welcome to my humble abode!” 

The place was...clean. By far the cleanest room he had seen anyone have. Everything was spotless. 

“It’s-”

“Clean? Of course! Hard to pull out the right thought to shove in someone’s face if you can’t find it.” 

That...made some kind of sense.

“So what are doing here?” Remus asked.

Remy shook his head, clearing it. “Right...I was wondering if...ok this is stupid. I’m going to...no I’m not..ok. Will you be my caregiver?” He blurted out.

Remus thought about it. “Sure.”

“Really?” 

“Yeah! Though I would suggest getting a back up caregiver too. I’m not always available.” Remus said. “And I don’t want you to be left on you own if you want someone there.”

“Oh...any suggestions on who I should ask?” Remy asked, already having someone in mind. 

“Logan is a good choice. He regresses too so he understands it.” Remus said.

“And he’d be willing to watch someone else?” Remy asked.

“Oh..yeah no I didn’t think of it from that angle….maybe not. Of course he was fine last time.” 

Remy nodded, thanked Remus then left. “Alright….Just got to ask him. Piece of cake.”

“I don’t see why not.” Was Logan’s response. 

“Thank you!” Remy said.

“Would you like to talk about what you do and do not like to do when little now? I have some time.” Logan said.

“Actually...could we do this with Remus?” Remy asked.

“Of course. I wasn’t going to exclude him if he is going to need to know this too.” Logan said. 

Remy was relieved it went so well.


	129. Looking at me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just over 3000 words and eleven pages. The longest one shot I've done so far! Pretty proud of it.

Virgil had worked too hard to be accepted like he had been to ruin it now. He had a reputation to uphold. An image that he worked too hard on to mess up. Hardcore edgy was easy to mess up. It didn’t help that Patton insisted on treating him like a kid. That did NOT help. Because...well...

He age regressed to cope with stress. 

It was way too ‘cute’ and childish, if any of the others found out he had no idea what he would do. They would never take him seriously again! So when in the middle of an argument he found himself starting to slip he just...left. 

He didn’t really have a choice. He claimed that he was done dealing with all the stupid and sunk out before anyone could stop him. It wasn’t the first time he had done that, but it still made him nervous that they would follow him every time. 

What if Thomas called him back? Would he be able to snap out of it before everyone figured out that something was off? What if they came into his room again? 

That’s why he never got dressed in one of his onesies. Despite really really wanting to wear them. Or use the pacifiers he had carefully spent hours decorating till they were just right. All used purple and black with either spiders, bats, or just cobwebs. Or cuddled with any of the stuffed animals he had hidden in the back of his closet. 

No. He couldn’t let them know. Nor could he let himself ever completely regress. It had only happened a couple of times and both times he had almost been caught. He had to be careful. Still that didn’t stop him from coloring and chewing on his thumb. 

There was a knock at his door. He got up from the floor and forced himself into an older headspace. More of a teen than a child, but old enough that no one would notice anything off. 

“What?” He demanded opening the door.

Logan was unmoved by his hostility. “If you are not doing anything important Patton has called a family meeting.” 

Virgil rolled his eyes. “No thanks.”

“There will be baked goods.” Logan said.

Virgil hated that that worked. “Alright. Fine. Fifteen minutes tops.” 

Logan smiled, “Don’t worry it won’t take long.” 

Virgil paused at that. That was weird. Logan rarely just...smiled. Whatever they were going to talk about must have been good news. 

At least he hoped it was good news. 

They figured it out and they’re going to kick you out now! His brain screamed at him. 

No way that was happening. He had been too careful….hadn’t he been?

He walked in and Patton was whispering something to Roman who was grinning. Ok this was starting to freak him out. He jumped up so he was sitting on the countertop. “Alright. I’m here. Start talking.” He grabbed a muffin from a tray close by.

“Well you see-” Roman started.

“We’re dating!” Patton yelled. 

Virgil choked on his bite of muffin. He managed to swallow and clear his throat without dying and gasped out a rough, “What?” 

Logan took a breath, “Yes. We three have entered into a relationship and wanted to inform you.” 

“Cool.” was Virgil’s reply. “Was that it?” 

“You are being surprisingly chill about this.” Roman said, narrowing his eyes.

Virgil rolled his, “What you three do doesn’t really matter that much to me. If anything this means you won’t be bugging me as much.” 

“An...interesting way to look at it.” Logan said.

Patton was watching Virgil carefully. Virgil jumped off the counter. “Err….Congrats? I guess?” 

“That wasn’t the only thing we wanted to talk about.” Roman said.

“What else is there?” Virgil asked, ready to leave. He was going to drop again soon and he needed to be in his room before that happened. 

“We were.. Are worried about you. You’ve been acting...off lately.” Roman continued. 

Virgil froze like a deer in headlights. “What do you mean?” 

“Well, you’ve been biting your thumb more.” Logan said.

“Your insults have gotten more childish.” Roman said.

“And you seem more on edge.” Patton said.

“That’s...nothing. Just...me being me.” Virgil excused lamely.

Stupid! He cursed himself internally. He had been messing up without even noticing. But they had noticed. How much had they pieced together? 

“If something is wrong feel free to come to any one of us about it.” Logan said. “We won’t judge you.” 

Virgil stared pointedly at Roman who blinked after a second. “I swear I won’t make fun of you for whatever it is. I just want to make sure you’re ok.” 

Virgil took a breath. He really really had to get out of here. “Thanks but no thanks.” 

“Virgil.” Patton said. “We’re here for you.” 

“And that’s great! Really! Just that...nothing’s wrong! I am fine. Great even.” Virgil said.

“Why are you lying then?” Roman asked.

Virgil glared at him as his heart beat picked up. “I’m leaving now. Enjoy making out or whatever.” 

“Virgil-” 

He flipped them off as he left.

\---

He locked his door and sat down on his bed. He kept looking at his closet. 

Fuck it! He pulled out a onesie and a stuffed red panda. It was a soft blue bear onesie that was a bit larger than it needed to be so it made him feel extra small. He curled up on his bed and hugged the red panda to his chest. 

He felt like sleeping. Or maybe he felt like crying. 

The worry from earlier was wearing off and left him exhausted. To the point of passing out. Since he was little he didn’t see any problem sleeping now even if it was mid afternoon.

He woke up getting summoned, He panicked and just managed to snapped himself into his normal clothing before rising up. 

“Oh good you’re...why are you wearing your old jacket?” Roman asked.

“Felt nostalgic.” He lied smoothly.

“Or maybe...you aren’t Virgil!” Roman pointed at him. 

“You honestly can’t be saying I’m Janus.” Virgil said grumping at being woken up. 

“Well…” 

Virgil rolled his eyes, He waved his hand and Janus rose up. He looked around, “Virgil. You are the First person I expect to call me.” Janus said surprised.

Virgil gestured to Janus, “See? I’m me? Can we move on so I can get back to work?” 

Janus laughed. “You were totally working!” 

Oh..right. Janus could tell when someone was lying. 

Virgil shifted, “I think you can leave now.” 

“You called him.” Logan said.

“Yeah so everyone would know it was really me! Which I am! So...shoo!” 

“You are acting really weird.” Logan stated.

“Come on Virge just tell us what's wrong.” Thomas said.

“Nothing!” Virgil said. 

“Lying.” Janus said looking at his gloved fingers as if inspecting his nails. 

Virgil hissed at him. 

“If there’s something wrong then we can help!” Patton said.

“Just… come on. What’s wrong?” Thomas said. 

“Nothing.” Virgil grit out. 

“If it’s nothing then there should be no problem telling us!” Roman said.

“Ok You really don’t want to know.” Virgil said. 

“Yes. We do.” Logan said.

“Well I don’t want you to know.” Virgil said. “How’s that?”

“Just tell me.” Thomas said. 

“I...can’t.” Virgil said sharply. 

“You must really like me being around so much if you are lying so much.” Janus said.

Virgil took a breath. Everyone was staring at him. He couldn’t lie. What was he supposed to do? 

“Look if I tell you..You’re never going to look at me the same way again.” Virgil said. “It’s better if you all just..drop it.” 

“Do you have spider legs?” Patton asked.

“What? No!” 

“Are you secretly a cat? That would be so cute!” 

“NO!” Virgil said, “I’m not..it’s not cute.” 

“So it is cute.” Roman said.

“I just said it wasn’t!” Virgil said.

“You have been lying.” Janus said.

“WOULD YOU LEAVE?” Virgil yelled at him. 

“What is it?”

“I-”

“Is it dangerous?” 

“No… well I mean-”

“Are you doing something stupid?” 

“No! It’s a coping thing!” He slapped his hand over his mouth. 

Logan snapped his fingers, “Coping, biting thumb, childish behaviour. It’s age regression.”

“N-no!” Virgil said panic was rising further. Janus just looked at him. 

They all knew. They all knew! 

Roman laughed. “You...like being a kid again?” 

That did it. Virgil teared up as he sunk out. 

\---

He refused to leave his room for three days. He was sure he would face more ridicule if he did. He cried on and off. One time he could have sworn he heard someone outside his door but he was crying too hard to really tell.

Everything was ruined now! Everything...they all knew and they were never going to respect him again. He was going to be a walking joke or treated like a kid all the time at best. At worst….He didn’t want to think about that.

“Please come out?” Patton asked through the door.

“Go away.” 

“Roman is sorry he laughed.” Patton said.

“I don’t care!” 

“Virgil...we need to talk about this.” Patton said.

Virgil opened the door. “Fine. But if anyone laughs again I swear-”

“No one will.” Patton promised.

Virgil followed Patton to the common room where Roman and Logan were waiting. He noticed Roman winced a little when he saw him. Maybe he wouldn’t laugh again.

“I truly am sorry I laughed.” Roman said.

“It doesn’t matter. Let’s just get this over with.” Virgil grumbled as he sat down away from all of them.

“We were wondering...If you needed someone to watch you when you were little.” Logan said.

Virgil blinked, “What?” 

“A caregiver...or caregivers.” Logan clarified. “We don’t know if you regress young enough that you would need them but-”

“Hold on. Are you volunteering?” Virgil said.

“Well yes. If we can help you with your method of coping in any way then we will.” 

“We’re here for you Kid- Virgil.” Patton said.

“Indeed.” Roman agreed.

Virgil hadn’t expected that question or for it to make him feel so...small. “I...I don’t know. I never really...I didn’t think you would be so...ok with it.” 

“It took a bit of research to get use to the idea.” Roman admitted.

“But you don’t have to hide it anymore.” Patton said. “We support you fully!” 

“I...thank you.” Virgil said. “But I don’t think I really want any of you to see me...Regressed..at least not yet.” 

“That is understandable.” Logan said. “When or if you change your mind we are here.”

Virgil nodded. 

\---

It was about three months before Virgil felt ready to just wear a onesie around. 

“So are you regressed right now?” Roman asked as he watched Virgil pour cereal. 

“No...well yes. I’m in teen space.” Virgil said.

“About how old?” Logan asked.

Virgil shrugged, “Fifteen? Old enough that I can still take care of myself if that’s what you're asking.” 

“How young do you get?” Patton asked as Virgil sat down with his cereal. 

“Normally it’s around five, but I’ve been younger before.” Virgil said. “It’s rare. I don’t normally let myself…At least before I didn’t.” 

They all nodded. Before returning to their own food. 

There was a bit of silence before Roman spoke up, “It must have been stressful. Your only way of coping being hidden all the time.”

“A bit. Yeah.” Virgil said.

“Would you ever be willing to be further regressed around us?” Roman asked. Virgil looked up to find Patton and Roman staring at him excited. 

“Ummm...maybe?” The thought was terrifying.

“You don’t have to.” Logan said shooting the other two a look that said back off.

“Of course only if you want to.” Patton said.

Virgil poked at his cereal. “I...guess It’s worth a try.” 

“Great!” Roman beamed.

Virgil swallowed before forcing a pained smile. 

\---

He could do this. Just walked out there and let himself drop. He had been on the edge for the past two hours. Just go out there and….and.

He was pacing to the door and back, over and over as he tried to work up the courage to go out there and just….

“Ugh! I can’t do this!” He collapsed onto this bed. 

He pulled the red panda to his chest. “Why is this so hard Kiki?” 

Kiki being a stuffed animal, said nothing. Still Virgil groaned “You’re right. I promised I wouldn try.

He got up still holding the stuffed animal for comfort and opened the door. He inched his way to the stairs. He managed to get to the back before he saw anyone. This was fine. He was just regressing downstairs. Maybe no one would even show up?

“Greetings Virgil!” He jumped. 

“Oh...hi.” He said hiding a little behind the panda.

“Oh..That’s a cute panda! What’s their name?” Roman asked.

“...Kiki.” Virgil said dropping. 

“Nice to meet you Kiki. I’m sure you are taking great care of Virgil for us!” Roman said shaking the paw of the panda.

Virgil giggled. “Yeah.” He hugged the Kiki tighter.

Roman smiled. “So. What do you normally do about now little one?” 

Virgil bit his lip and looked down. He shrugged. “Hide.”

“Oh…” roman said. “Well no need to do that! How about a game?” 

“Mkay.” Virgil agreed. “What we play?” Virgil asked.

“Oh. You baby talk.” Roman said without thinking.

Virgil’s eyes widened and he backed away from Roman. “Sorry.” 

“No No. It’s fine! I was just… surprised.” Roman said trying to comfort him.

“It stupid. Like me.” Virgil said.

“Don’t say that. Patton will have to fight you.” roman said joking.

Virgil began to panic more not getting the joke. “What? No. I don’t wanna fight!” 

“Kidding!” Roman said. Geez this was harder than he thought it would be.

Virgil sat down on the couch cuddling Kiki. “Oh...Where is Paton?” 

“Oh. Patton?” Roman called. 

Patton heard his name and popped his head in from the kitchen. “Oh! Are you being little now?” 

Virgil nodded, “Sorry.” 

“No need to be sorry.” Patton reassured him. He and Roman inched closer. 

“Can I watch a movie?” Virgil asked.

“Sure. Nightmare before christmas?” Roman asked.

Virgil agreed though he didn’t seem all that excited about it. Logan came down mid way through the movie and didn’t need to ask to tell Virgil was little. He was hugged a stuffed red panda and bitting his thumb. Logan summoned a pacifier and gave it to him.

Virgil’s eyes lit up as he looked at it. “For me?”

“Well I’m not going to use it.” Logan said.

“Thanks.” Virgil popping it into his mouth. He smiled around it as he leaned over against Roman who almost started vibrating from excitement. 

He looked at Patton and Logan, “Are you seeing this?” He mouthed. 

Patton shot him a thumbs up. Logan rolled his eyes fondly. 

Slowly Virgil dozed off. 

\---

He woke up still leaning against Roman. The credits were rolling. “You awake?” Roman asked.

Virgil shot up. What did he have in his mouth. He spit it out. “Oh geez. I’m so sorry!” 

“Oh. You aren’t regressing anymore.” Roman said, slightly disappointed. 

Virgil paused, “Well yeah. It doesn’t last that long for me.” 

“Oh. Well...ok.” Roman said standing. 

“Why? Did something happen?” Virgil didn’t remember anything bad happening. 

“No. Just..wanted to hang out with little you more.” Roman said.

Virgil shifted. Why did that make him feel so weird? “Well It’s not like I’m going to not be around anymore. Since today went so well.” Roman looked so happy at that. 

So why did it make Virgil feel bad? Was he missing something?

\---

A pattern was quickly becoming clear. Roman preferred being around and taking care of regressed Virgil over normal Virgil. 

That was...fine. Virgil didn’t really like hanging out with Roman normally anyway. But then Patton started to like regressed Virgil more too...Then Logan.

“I just don’t want them to like me only when I’m regressed. You know?” 

Kiki stared at him from the bed. 

“I should just stop regressing.” 

Blank beady eyes.

“You’re right. I need this! Maybe just go back to regressing alone.” 

Those cold dead eyes.

“Ugh! Fine! IF they like me better regressed maybe they’ll have to deal with me only when I’m regressed!” 

Plan in place Virgil set about getting everything ready.

As soon as he regressed he would wander out of his room looking for one of the others, as soon as he wasn’t regressed anymore he disappeared. It got to the point that the only time they saw Un-regressed Virgil was when they were all with Thomas.

“I’m getting concerned.” Patton said as Virgil played on the floor nearby. “It’s like he’s always regressed.”

“I think he just doesn’t like us when he’s not regressed.” Roman said. 

“Perhaps we did something?” Logan suggested. “Made him feel like we didn’t want him around.” 

“What though?” Roman asked. “We’ve been as supportive as we can be!” 

“I mean I like Regressed Virgil but I miss our Virgil.” Patton said looking over at Virgil’s back.

Virgil had stopped playing as he listened. He felt awful. 

They all heard a sob and rushed over. “What happened?” 

“Did you get hurt?” 

“What’s wrong?” 

Virgil looked up at them. “I sorry. I didn’t mean to.” 

“To what?” Patton asked.

“I think you like me little better.” Virgil explained.

Logan frowned, “So you haven’t been showing up normal because you think we like you little more?” 

Virgil nodded, “Sorry.” 

“Oh sweetie.” Patton hugged him. “No. We like you anyway you are. We promise.” 

“Mkay.” Virgil said.

Roman carefully whipped the snot and tears from Virgil’s face. “Now Let’s get you some food ok?”

Virgil agreed.

The balance between being little and big took time but he managed. 

\---

“Family meeting.” Virgil said walking in to the common rooms where the other three were. They all looked up at him. He took a deep breath. “Ok. So..it’s been almost six months since I started regressing around you..and you guys are kinda of already doing it but…”

“But?” Roman prompted. 

“Will you three be my caregivers?” Virgil blurted out.

“Of course!” Patton said.

“It would be my honour.” Roman said.

“Yes.” Logan said.

Virgil smiled. “I love you guys.” 

“Awww. We love you too!” Patton said getting up and hugging him. 

Maybe being looked at a little differently wasn’t that bad.


	130. Looking at me 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Almost 4600 words and sixteen pages. ;-; Please point out if parts of this don't make sense. I'm sleep depraved and running on two energy drinks and a coffee at this point. So see any grammar errors or huge ass plot holes please point them out in the comments. I'm really proud of this and want it to be the best it can be. 
> 
> .....
> 
> Alright I'm out. Enjoy!

Janus watched from the shadows as Patton and others hugged Virgil. Ever since Virgil had been found out to age regression Janus had been looking into it more.

And he didn’t like what he found.

How many symptoms of regression matched up to his own ‘illness’ that he had been fighting with. He knew Virgil had the same thing as him and was hoping that if he pushed Virgil to tell the others Logan would figure out what it was and he could learn how to cure it. 

He didn’t like the answers he got from Logan about age regression. That involuntary regression wasn’t that easy to push off or avoid. That it was something that could be outgrown or it stuck with the person for the entirety of their life. 

He guessed Virgil figured it out before Remus or he did. But he never imagined it to be so...embarrassing. Something deadly and dreadful? Yes. Something that made them...like kids? 

Janus hated it. He hated how confused and helpless he was when it happened. How...vulnerable he was. He still wasn’t on the best terms with them and after pushing Virgil so much they liked him even less.

He disappeared into the dark and back to his room. He threw his hat into the corner and collapsed onto the bed. He ran a hand through his hair before tugging on it in frustration. He had been waiting for next to a year for Virgil to ask Logan to help him figure out how to stop regressing. For Logan to tell him something he wouldn’t tell Janus. For him to stop doing this!

No instead Virgil wanted them to be his ‘caregivers’ to take care of him when he was just a stupid kid! Where was the Virgil who hated feeling dumb? Who agreed that it was something that they shouldn’t have to deal with? Where was the Virgil that wanted it gone??

Coping. 

Maybe for Virgil. Maybe even for Remus. But for Janus it was a nuance. A waste of time. A vulnerability he didn’t want nor need. He hated it. 

He could feel it creeping in on him. The edge of his thoughts getting dimmer, slower. His frustration about it turned to fear and shame. He curled up on his side, tears filling his eyes and slid down onto the blankets under his face. He hated this. He sobbed. 

He was alone and small and tired and…

Scared. 

He was so so scared. He shook at the sound of someone walking outside his door. Freezing and covering his mouth to muffling his quickening breath. 

There was a knock. “Dee?” Remus called.

Janus didn’t answer. 

He wanted Remus to come in.

He wanted him to go away. 

He wanted a hug.

He wanted to be alone.

He sobbed at the confusing thoughts. Why did he want to be alone? Alone was all scary and big and awful. 

“Help.” He whimpered. The door opened and Remus looked him over before sighing. 

“It’s happening again?” 

Janus nodded and held out his arms. Remus come over and crawled into the middle of the bed so he could pull Janus into his lap to hold him. “Shhh. It’s ok. It’ll be over soon.”

“I scare.” Janus whispered.

Remus pressed a kiss to the top of Janus’ head. “It’s ok. I’m here. I’m going to stay here till you’re better again ok?” 

Janus sobbed and nodded. 

He hated this.

\---

Remus watched as Janus slowly let himself slip into an unrestful sleep. He tightened his hold on his friend. He wanted to do more but there wasn’t much he could do. He could barely hold himself together when it happened to him, how was he supposed to help someone else?

A coping method. 

Remus didn’t cope, he was the problem. Why would he need to cope? 

Admittedly it was nice. He loved the simplicity of it. It was easy when it happened. He had a thought and he acted on it! No ands if’s or buts. 

Heh butts.

He shook his head. Before looking at Janus fondly. He didn’t think it was as bad as Janus thought. It could even be fun. Terrified of everything and distorted thinking? That was right up his alley. 

But it wasn’t for Janus. Janus needed to be able to think clearly. It was important to him. So it was important to Remus too. Remus didn’t know how to stop regressing, but he knew someone that might know. 

So he tucked Janus in gave him a body pillow for him to cuddle with and left to go ask Logan some questions.

\---

Logan jumped when he opened his bedroom door to see Remus sitting on his bed staring at him. 

“Ah...Remus...What are you doing in my room?” Logan asked.

“I need your help.” Remus said.

Logan was sure he didn’t hear that correctly. “You….you need my help?” 

Remus clapped his hands, “I need to fix Janus.” 

“Why? What’s wrong with him? Did something happen?” Remus made a mental note of the concern in Logan’s voice. He wasn’t too surprised that Logan cared. You had to love that snake! He was the best! Who else was so down for murder at the drop of a hat?

“He….well we age regress and we wanted to know how to stop it.” Remus said cutting to the chase.

Logan took in this information. “Both of you...I see… Well I’m not sure you can stop if it is involuntary.”

“Can’t you like, whip up some kind of science pill that stops it?” Remus asked.

“That’s not how...ok. Look if you are both regressing due to a need to cope with stress then it might be possible for you to replace it with a separate coping method.” Logan said.

A dozen thoughts flooded Remus’ head. All of them more bloody than the last. Well he could try those but Janus wouldn’t want to give any of them a shot. He knew Janus too well to even suggest them to him. 

“Thanks for the help!” Remus said. He paused at the door, “Could you...not mention this to anyone?”

“I will not tell anyone about your regression unless you tell me you want someone to know.” Logan promised.

Remus beamed. “Thanks! You’re the man.”

“Is that meant to be a compliment?” Logan frowned.

“That’s for me to know and for you to figure out. Byyyyye!” 

\---

Janus woke up with Remus gone. He frowned and got up to go looking for him. He carried the pillow with him and ran into Patton. 

“Oh yeah! Is it nap time?” Patton asked looking at the pillow.

“Where’s Remus?” Janus asked trying to sound big and falling. Lucky Patton didn’t seem to care.

“I just saw him walk by! I’m sure he’ll be back soon. Can I offer you a cookie while you wait?” Patton asked.

Janus smiled and nodded eagerly. Patton laughed to himself as he led Janus into the kitchen for the snack. He was going to have to give Janus more sweets if this is how he responded to them!

Janus sat down at the table and kicked his feet as he waited. Patton thought he looked a bit like Virgil but couldn’t quite place why. Janus grabbed the cookie and took a large bite out of it. “Thanks.” He muttered around the mouthful.

Patton beamed, “Of course kiddo.” He ruffled Janus’ hair. Oh! He wasn’t wearing his hat! Maybe that was it!

Patton left Janus alone to finish his cookie. Janus watched him go slightly sad that he was leaving. He really didn’t want to be alone anymore but...maybe Remus would show up soon.

It was pretty quick for Remus to find him. 

“Oh! What are you doing out of bed?” Remus asked.

“Got lonely.” Janus shrugged, standing and grabbing Remus’ hand. “Paton gave me a cookie dou.” 

“Did he?” Remus asked.

Janus smiled, “Ahhuh! It was cha-co-lat!” Janus said, focusing to pronounce the word. Remus laughed. 

“That’s great!” Remus said.

Janus was bouncy when they got back to his room. “I don’t wanna sleep more.” 

“But if you do you’ll get better faster.” Remus reminded.

Janus sighed. “Oooook.” He crawled back into bed. 

Remus smiled at him and kissed Janus’ forehead. “Sleep well.”

“Mmm.” Janus hummed closing his eyes.

Remus watched him a stab of unease went through him. Did he really want to get rid of this? Janus looked so relaxed and...happy. When was the last time he had been like this outside Little space?

\---

Janus took the news that there might be a solution well. He was eager to get started, “Finally we can stop with the annoying brain rot.” 

“I like brain rot!” Remus protested.

“I mean the regression.” Janus said.

“...yeah. Let’s do this!” Remus said a beat too late. Janus ignored it and moved on. 

“A different coping method.” He pondered.

Remus was silently thinking. Did he really want to stop regressing? Janus did...which meant he should too..right? 

They didn’t expect Virgil to show up. Yet there he was watching them. 

“Virgil.” Janus said, finally noticing him. Remus stood up. 

Virgil took a breath. “I noticed that you were...a bit bouncier earlier. And I realized something.” He looked Janus dead in the eyes. “You’ve been regressing too.”

“Of course not.” Janus lied. “This is something else.”

“Come on Dee.” Remus whispered.

Janus looked at Remus surprised before rolling his eyes, “Fine. We regress too.”

Virgil nodded to himself. “Alright well...I don’t know about the others but..I’m here if you ever want to...regress around someone.” 

Remus lit up at the suggestion. Janus spoke first. “Thank you for the wonderful offer but unlike you we won’t be doing this for much longer.”

Virgil frowned, “What do you mean? You can’t just..stop!” 

“Why not?” 

“You don’t think I didn’t try to? It never works.” Virgil said, shaking his head.

Janus stiffened. That’s...that can’t be true! There has to be a way to stop. There has to be! “Just because you failed-”

“But I’m willing to help you try.” Virgil said.

Janus narrowed his eyes, “Why are you being so….nice?” 

Virgil looked uncomfortable. “Maybe I want us to not be at odds all the time.” 

“So you’ll help us?” Remus asked.

“As long as he give regression an honest shot first.” Virgil said.

“You’re kidding right?” Janus laughed.

Virgil crossed his arms. “No. I mean it. It’s really helped me and I think it can help both of you.” 

“Fine.” Janus spit out. “But when we don’t like it You’ll help us get rid of it!” 

Virgil held out a hand. Janus shook it. Remus just watched. Wondering why Virgil was so smug looking. There was no way he was going to convince Janus to actually like regressing...no. No way.

\---

Janus and Remus sat on the couch in the common room Virgil and Logan both there to help them regress. “So you want me to do this on purpose?” Remus asked.

“Well we could wait for it to happen naturally.” Logan said.

Janus huffed, “Let’s just do whatever gets this over with!” 

The next two hours were a disaster. 

Remus had managed to catch multiple things on fire before Logan managed to wrestle the matches from him. Janus was stubborn and refused to properly regress instead got half into the headspace and just pouted. 

It wasn’t until Patton wondered that he brightened up. 

“What’s going on?” Patton asked no clue that they were regressed. 

Logan and Virgil looked at each other. “Just...a...test of sorts.” 

“Oh. Are you two winning?” Patton asked Remus and Janus.

“Yeah!” Remus said. “I’m winning!” 

Janus shrugged. Then he spoke which he had been refusing to do. “Of course I am!” 

Patton nodded, “Well I’ll leave you too it-” 

Virgil caught him. “Actually could you stay and watch them for a couple minutes? I need to talk to Logan in the other room.” 

“Why would I need to watch them?” Patton asked.

“Because...umm…” Virgil started.

“Remus has been setting things on fire.” Logan said flatly.

“Oh! I can make sure that doesn’t happen anymore.” Patton promised.

Virgil smiled. “Thanks!” 

Virgil dragged Logan around the corner and waited for Patton to go about looking after Janus and Remus before Peeking around the corner. 

“What are we doing?” Logan asked.

“We’re testing something. Janus and Remus both lit up and focused on Patton when he came in the room. They may feel safer around him and will lower their guards.” Virgil whispered.

“That is...a brilliant idea.” Logan said. 

“Thanks.”

Janus was too busy watching Patton to notice Logan and Virgil peeking out around the corner. Remus saw them but just didn’t care. 

“So are we going to be starting any more fire?” Patton asked. 

“No?” Remus answered. 

Patton smiled at him. “Exactly!” 

Why did Janus want Patton to smile at him like that. “Hey..um..” He said.

“What do you need kiddo?” Patton asked. 

Janus was quickly falling deeper into little space. “Hug?” he whispered.

Patton beamed. “I never thought you would ask!” He hugged Janus. 

“Hey! ME too!” Remus said tackling them. 

Patton and Remus laughed as Janus smiled. 

Virgil shook Logan’s shoulder, “Are you seeing this?” 

“And he still has no idea they are regressed?” Logan asked slightly concerned about his boyfriend’s intelligence. 

“What are we looking at?” Roman asked popping his head around the corner. Virgil jumped and fell down. 

“Don’t scare me like that!” He snapped before he noticed that Janus and Remus could see him. 

Janus had an unreadable expression on his face as he pulled away from Patton, grabbed Remus and left.

“Ah shit.” Virgil said.

“Langue.” Patton frowned. 

\---

Janus groaned. He didn’t succeed in getting rid of his regression nooo instead he turned seeing Patton into a trigger! Luckily Patton and Roman had no idea what was going on. Unluckily Virgil and Logan did.

“This is a mess.” Janus said.

“This is art!” Remus snapped as he cooked. 

“I wasn’t talking about that but yes that is a mess.” Janus said.

There were eggshells and paper in the soup thing that Remus was making. “You should regress to get your mind off it.” 

Janus looked at Remus. “Are you serious? That’s ridiculous!” 

“Why not?” Remus asked. “It helps.” 

“It only helps idiots and cowards who can’t face their problems!” Janus snapped.

“It helps me.” Remus said cooly. 

“Remus...I didn’t mean you.” 

“Oh so just Virgil? Who has been nicer than we deserve?” Remus said.

“Where is all of this coming from?” Janus asked bewildered. 

Remus just shook his head. “You were supposed to give it a fair chance.”m he took his soup dish thing and left. Janus stared at the spot he had been standing in. 

Remus was...disappointed? In him???

Janus groaned. 

\---

“I’m surprised you came to me for help.” Patton said.

So was Janus. But if he was going to give this a fair shot then he needed to do it correctly. The only snag in that plan was that he still didn’t want Patton to know. Hell he didn’t want Virgil or Logan to know! But what was done is done.

“I don’t suppose we could do something while we talked?” Janus asked. Hoping that would give him something else to focus on to keep him steady.

“Sure! You want to help me and Roman cook dinner?” Patton asked.

“Roman?” 

“Oh..would that be a problem?” Patton asked concerned.

Janus wanted to say yes it was! But..it was just an extra reason to not slip up. Besides it wasn’t like this was the first time he had been little around them without either of them noticing. 

“Not at all. Just not sure he would want me around.” Janus said.

“Let’s ask him.” Patton said.

Turns out Roman was thrilled that Janus was making an effort to get along and was more than happy with him joining them. 

Yay.

It was going well. Janus half in half out of his head space when he turned and collided with Roman and dropped the glass he was holding. It shattered and he accidently cut his foot. He dropped both to the floor and into his head space. He started crying.

“Whoa. It’s ok! It’s just a glass little-” Roman caught himself. Had he almost called janus little stormcloud? That was for Virgil when he was….little.

Roman picked up Janus and set him on the dinner table so he could see his foot and left Patton to Clean up the broken glass. “It’s ok now. I’ve got you.” 

“Owie.” Janus whimpered. 

Ok. yeah he was little. Roman looked over the wound and smiled up at Janus, “It’s just a small cut. Nothing a big boy like you can’t handle!” He said in the same soft tone he used when Virgil was scared or hurt.

“O-ok.” Janus said hugging himself as he watched Roman clean the wound with a rag before putting on a bandage. 

“You did such a good job staying still! Do you want a sticker or sucker for being a great patient?” Roman asked, holding out a snake sticker and a red sucker. 

“Stick please?” Janus asked. 

“Of course!” Roman said. “Would you like it on your shirt?” Roman asked peeling it off. 

Janus tapped his human cheek. Roman smiled as he stuck it on. Janus giggled. “Tanks.” 

“Awww. Is Janus a little too?” Patton said stepping over now that the glass was cleaned up.

Janus ducked his head. “Sorry.” 

“You don’t have to be sorry.” Patton said.

“I lied. I didn’t say it to you.” Janus said. “So...sorry.”

“It’s ok Sir scaly.” Roman said, picking Janus up and holding him. “You weren’t ready to tell us.” 

“I didn’t wanna let anyone know.” Janus said. “I don’t like it.” He frowned.

“Oh? Why is that?” Roman asked.

Janus hid his face in Roman’s shoulder, “Scare an con-few-en.” 

“It’s ok if you get confused.” Patton said. “You just have to ask someone else to explain it to you.” 

“And you don’t have to be scared. We’ll protect you.” Roman promised.

“Weally? But I’mma bad guy.” Janus muttered.

“You aren’t a bad guy. I promise.” Roman said, tightening his grip on Janus. Janus hummed before yawning. 

Patton laughed, “Is someone tired?” 

“Mmm.” 

“Why don’t you take a nap on the couch and We’ll wake you up when dinner is ready. Ok?” Patton asked.

“Ro go too?” Janus asked.

Roman could not say no to that. 

Which is why Virgil came down and found Roman holding a sleeping Janus on the couch. “What’s going on with them?” Virgil asked Patton as he walked into the kitchen.

“Oh! You’ll never guess!” Patton beamed. 

“Oh?” Virgil asked.

“Yeah! You aren’t the only little!” Patton said. “Oops. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.” 

“It’s fine. I knew.” Virgil said.

“You did? Why didn’t you tell me?” Patton asked. “No wait I get it. If he asked you to keep it a secret then it’s ok.” 

“Glad you agree.” Virgil peeked back in on Roman and Janus. Roman shot him a thumbs up. Janus curled up half on him. 

Virgil pushed down the jealousy he felt. It was stupid to be upset when he wanted Janus and Remus to get help. 

“Are you ok? You’re frowning pretty hard there.” Patton said. “Don’t want it to get stuck that way.” 

“I...Is it bad that I’m angry at Janus?” Virgil asked.

Patton paused, “Why are you mad?” 

“I...don’t want him sleeping on Roman.” Virgil said.

“Sounds like someone is going to have to learn how to share caregivers.” Patton said softly.

Virgil huffed dropping. “But daaaad. I don't’ wanna!” 

Patton hid a laugh. “Sorry Kiddo. I’m afraid you’ll have to get use to it.” 

“Ugh!” Virgil groaned and threw himself down into a chair. 

“Think of it this way. You have a little brother now.” Patton said. “Someone else you can play with when you're little.” 

Virgil thought about that. “Yeah...yeah!”

“So will you be a good big brother?” Patton said.

“I’mma gonna be the best big brother!” Virgil said. “To Remus too!” 

Patton stopped, “Remus is little too?” 

“Oops.” 

\---

Remus was sitting on his bed eating his soup. His anger had cooled off and was replaced by wishing he hadn’t stormed out. He should go talk things through with Janus. He didn’t want to stay mad at his best friend. 

“Remus?” Logan’s voice called through his door. Remus waved his hand and the door opened. 

“What are you doing here?” 

“Would you like to join us for dinner?” Logan said.

Remus raised his pot of soup. “Got food. Thanks though.” 

“Ah..well it’s more of a...family meeting with food than dinner.” Logan said.

“And Moi is invited?” Remus said before throwing the pot so it hit the wall and jumping up. “Well I’m not going to miss this!” 

“I should inform you that Janus regressed in front of Roman and Patton both of whom have figured out he and you regress.” Logan said as they started on their way to the kitchen.

“Oh thank fuck! I did not want to keep that hidden anymore.” Remus said relieved.

“Not..the reaction I expected.” Logan chuckled. 

Remus shrugged and sped up. “Come on! Speed it up! I want to see Virgil’s face when he hears about this.” 

Logan grabbed Remus’s arm stopping him. “I should warn you that Both Virgil and Janus are regressed and that you should be more..kid friendly.” 

“Fine.” Remus rolled his eyes.

\---

When Remus and Logan walked in the room Virgil shrunk into Patton’s side. Patton whispered something to him before Virgil nodded and sat up again. Janus was sitting next to Roman. Remus ended up sitting between Logan and Patton. 

“So what’s up?” Remus asked.

“Virgil did you have something you wanted to say?” Patton asked.

Virgil shook his head and poked Patton’s arm, “You say it.”

“Ok. Virgil wants to try a playdate with you two.” Patton said looking between Remus and Janus.

Janus tilted his head to the side. He frowned and looked to Roman. “I got a con-few-en.” 

“Confusion? About what?” Roman asked.

“Virgil not like me...but playdate?” 

“I like you!” Virgil said. “I’m going to be careful and everything.” 

Remus held up his hands, “I think we should have this conversion when Janus isn’t...I mean it isn’t fair to have him agree to something when he’s like this.” 

“Why not?” Logan asked.

“Well cause we don’t remember as much?” Remus said. Logan, Roman and Patton looked at each other. “Isn’t that the same with Virgil.” 

Virgil shook his head, “I remembers.” 

“Huh.” Remus said. 

“Remus about how young do you both regress to?” Logan asked.

“Around...4 for me? Or younger? I know that Janus is younger.” Remus said. 

“Very helpful.” Roman said flatly. 

“I don’t know how age works for children!” Remus shot back.

“Well we can test some things out to see. In the meantime we’ll put off the playdate.” 

“Awww.” Virgil looked down and kicked his feet. 

Remus felt bad about ruining Virgil’s fun. “I’m up for it.” Remus said. “Even if Janus isn’t.”

Virgil smiled at him. That felt better. 

Janus was watching slowly the younger look in his eyes faded till Remus could tell it was just Janus sitting there. He sat up more, looked sideways at Roman and stayed quiet as Remus watched him try to figure out what the hell happened and what was happening now.

“So mind explaining how Janus regressed earlier?” Remus asked for Janus’ benefit. 

Patton told the story excitedly. “He was so cute!” 

Janus looked down at his lap, his cheek red under the snake sticker. “I’d like a playdate.” He said.

“You’re bigger now?” Roman asked.

Janus couldn’t meet Roman’s eye. “Yes.” 

“Are you sure? You don’t have to.” Patton said.

Janus took a deep breath. “I thought that Age regression was just...dumb. That I was dumb for doing it. I can see that I was wrong now. And...I want to give it an honest shot.” He said looking right at Virgil. 

Virgil smiled at him. He gave him a thumbs up and everyone else laughed. 

\---

Janus sat in Roman’s lap on the floor, playing with a rattle, a paci in his mouth as he wore a fluffy onesie. “Having fun?” Roman asked. Janus giggled and bounced a little. It was clear that he was barely able to talk at all. 0-2 years old.

Remus liked to crawl so that he ‘fell over less’. He was wearing a pair of green and black pajamas. He got a paci but after chewing off the rubber tip Logan got him a chewy necklace and a teething star wand. He sat leaning on Roman and holding one of Janus’ hands.

Virgil sat down showing Janus and Remus his favorite toys. “This is kiki the red panda! They are really really soft.” He held kiki out so Janus and Remus could pet the panda stuffie softly.

“Sot!” Janus babbled around his paci.  
“Soft!” Remus said, managing to say the word. 

Virgil looked up at Patton and Logan. “I do good?”

“You’ve done excellent.” Logan said.

Virgil smiled. He turned back to Janus and Remus and kept showing them toys. 

\---

Janus knocked on Virgil’s door. Virgil opened it and blinked in surprise. “Oh. Hi. What do you need?”

Janus took a breath. “Thank you...for convincing me to give it a shot.” 

“Oh well..you’re welcome.” Virgil said.

Janus turned to leave before turning back to Virgil. Virgil watched him debate something in his head. “Just spit it out.”

“It’s dumb.” Janus said.

Virgil rolled his eyes. “I’ll forget about it if it is ok?” 

“Can I...give you a hug?” Virgil was surprised. 

“Sure.” Virgil said with a slight smile. Janus still hesitated and it was fast one armed hug but..it was still a hug. “Feel better little brother?” Virgil asked.

“That’s only when we’re little and you know that!” Janus hissed at him.

“Oh come on! Can’t your big brother be proud of the progress you’ve made?” Virgil said. 

“I take back everything. I hate you.” Janus said, turning to leave.

“Already a moody teenager. They grow up so fast.” Virgil said.

“Stop! I will tell Patton about this!” Janus warned. It was a hollow threat and they both knew it.

Virgil laughed. “Oh no! Don’t bring Patton into this.” Janus sighed heavily but a smile pulled at his lips as he listened to Virgil laugh. 

“Hey...Virgil.” Janus said.

“Yeah?” Virgil said smile falling.

“I’m proud of you too.” Janus said before turning and walking away listening to Virgil sputter behind him. 

Remus watched the whole thing from the end of the hall. He gave Janus a high five. “I knew you had it in you Dee.” 

Janus rolled his eyes, “Let’s just go. I don’t feel like getting a heart to heart with Patton right now.” 

“What about a heart for heart. I rip both your hearts out and switch them.” Remus began rambling. 

Janus smiled fondly at his best friend. 

Yeah. Maybe Regression isn’t as bad as he thought it was. Maybe it was nice to have that sense of family and safety. Relaxation and comfort. Maybe it wasn’t dumb.

Alright it wasn’t dumb. It was coping. 

Janus could get used to it if it was always like this.


	131. crybaby snippet.

Logan was little. And crying. Because there was nothing more frustrating than being the size of an actual toddler and having the mindset to match. He couldn’t reach anything, or think well or…..ANYTHING!

So he wasn’t sad crying. He was angry. Mad at the very situation and he was NOT going to stop crying till he wasn’t a literal child anymore!

It had been two hours of non-stop wailing and everyone was getting really really tired of it. Janus and Virgil had to leave just because they could listen to Logan’s piercing yells anymore. 

Patton was bouncing Logan in his arms trying to get him to calm down. “It’s ok. I promise!” 

Logan glared at him. 

“No! Nononono!” He said the only word he seemed to know. 

Roman was busy summoning items only for them to be rejected. 

“I’ve run out of ideas!” Roman said, throwing his hands in the air. 

With that they were all summoned. “Ok what’s-” Thomas was cut off by a loud cry from Logan.

“Sorry. We’ve been trying to calm him down for the past few hours but nothing is working!” Roman said.

Thomas frowned before holding out his arms, “Let me try?”

Patton happily handed Logan over. Logan’s cries stopped for the first time as Thomas hugged him. Roman stared at him. “Wha- ha- how did you do that?” 

“I dunno. Just...felt right.” Thomas said, swaying a little. Logan’s eyes drooped. He put a thumb in his mouth and dozed off. 

Patton and Roman stared.

“I need to remember this for next time.”


	132. Creative drop 1

There was always a sort of drop after Roman finished a big project. A time in which he needed time to recover. Who better to help with that than Janus? 

So it was half past midnight, Roman was exhausted and on the brink of dropping and he went to see if Janus was still awake. 

Janus opened the door and took one look at him before smiling softly. “Do you need my help little Prince?”

“Please?” Roman asked, his voice small.

“Of course.” Janus stepped back to let Roman in. It was a secret between them that Roman regressed. One that Janus was more than happy to help keep until Roman felt comfortable sharing with the others. Until then he was the only one that got to see this side of Roman. 

Roman sat down on the edge of the bed and his stomach growled. Janus raised an eyebrow. “When was the last time you ate?”

Roman looked down at his hands, “...Yesterday.” 

“Do you want to pick out some comfy clothes from the closet while I go get a snack for you?” Janus asked.

Roman nodded relieved he wasn’t being scolded for not eating….again. Instead he got up and went to pick up a pair of pajamas.

Janus went downstairs and filled a water bottle with juice and got a cup of crackers. He was worried about Roman’s eating habits. He was eating less and working more lately. It would be fine, he would keep an eye on him and make sure it didn’t get out of hand.

He turned and saw Logan watching him from the doorway. Janus had been so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn’t even notice him. “Juice normally doesn’t go in a water bottle.” 

“Well this way I won’t spill it.” Janus said. 

“...Fair enough.” Logan said moving passed him. 

Janus got upstairs and found Roman changed and waiting, sitting against the headboard of the bed hugging a pillow. 

Roman lit up at seeing Janus. Janus smiled back easily. If he was completely honest he enjoyed taking care of Roman. Making sure he was safe and happy. 

“Here. Grape juice and crackers.” He said handing them over. He was going to end up with crumbs in his bed but he didn’t mind that much.

Roman ate quickly. Finishing the crackers then most of the juice before he yawned. 

Janus chuckled to himself. “Sleep time?” 

“Mhm.” Roman rubbed his eyes as Janu took the empty cup and mostly empty water bottle. “Cuddles?” He asked very much in little space.

“For you little prince.” Janus hugged Roman to his chest as the little’s eyes drooped before falling asleep.

He was safe.

\---

Roman woke up the next morning still little. “Dee! Dee! Wake up!” 

Janus groaned. He threw an arm over his eyes. “What?”

“It’s morning!” Roman said shaking his caregiver’s shoulder. 

“It’s early. Go back to sleep.” Janus grumbled. 

Roman sighed heavily. “But I’m hungry!” 

Janus groaned. “Fiiine.” He removed his arm to see Roman smiling at him. He starting bouncing a little on the bed. 

He rolled his eyes. “Let’s get you breakfast before anyone else wakes up and sees you.” 

“Oh...right.” Roman stopped bouncing. He looked away.

“What’s wrong?” Janus asked.

“Nofin.” Roman said. “I don’t wanna eat anymore.” 

“Why not?” Janus asked sitting up. 

Roman hugged himself. “What if the others see me?” 

Janus pulled him into his arms. “How about I go get you some food and bring it back?” 

Roman didn’t respond. “Roman?”

Roman pulled away from the hug. “I can do it. I’ll be fine.” 

Janus frowned at how...off Roman was acting. He was normally more upbeat. Even at the idea of the others finding out. He would suggest that it be a game of spies or something.

Not this.

“Come on. Let’s go.” Janus said, grabbing Roman’s hand. Roman followed him downstairs in the dark. It was early enough that no one else was awake.

Or at least no one should have been. The both froze when they found Virgil in the kitchen before them.

“What are you doing up so early?” Janus asked.

Virgil looked up at them, “Why do you care?” He’s eyes fell to Janus’ hand that was still holding Roman’s. He dropped his phone. “Hold UP!” He yelled, jumping to his feet. “Are you two dating??”

“No!” Roman snapped. He ripped his hand out of Janus’ to cross his arms. “Fuck off!” 

“Roman!” Janus scolded. 

Roman scowled. He stalked past Janus and Virgil to get a cup of coffee. Janus sighed silently. He wasn’t regressed anymore. Getting snapped out of his regression always made him pissed off and more lately to drop again soon.

“Ok..Sorry.” Virgil said sinking back down into his seat. 

Roman took a deep breath. “It’s fine. I’m sorry for snapping.” 

“Don’t worry. I’d be offended if someone thought I would sink low enough to date Deceit.” Virgil said shooting Janus a glare.

“I-” Janus started.

“Ok. Not sorry. Fuck you.” Roman snapped.

Virgil frozen. “Are you dating him?” 

“No.” Roman said. “But that doesn’t mean you should be such a jerk!” 

Virgil held up his hands, “Fine. geez. Sorry.” 

Roman didn’t even take his coffee as he left the room. So much for getting breakfast.

Janus caught Roman before he got to his room. “What?” He snapped.

“Are you ok?” Janus asked.

“Yeah...fine.” Roman said before going in his room and closing the door before Janus could enter as well.

\---

Roman was crying. He hurt him. He had been so pissed off that everything was going wrong that he snapped at Janus and laughed at his name. 

There was a knock at his door. He didn’t get up when the door opened. 

“Roman?” Janus’ voice asked. 

Roman whimpered and hid his head under his pillow. Janus walked over and sat down next to Roman. 

“I’m sorry.” Roman said clearly small. 

“I’m sorry too.” Janus said. “You aren’t evil.”

“You’re name isn’t stupid I just…” Roman curled up tighter. He sobbed. “I don’t know anything anymore.”

Janus put a hand on Roman’s shoulder. “It’ll be alright in the end. I promise.”

Roman wasn’t sure he believed him.


	133. Redux Regression 2

Logan avoided Roman, Patton and Janus for a couple weeks before Roman cornered him. 

“I get that you don’t want me to watch you when you’re little.” Nothing could be further from the truth. “But you need someone!” 

Logan sighed heavily. “I’m fine by myself.”

“Logan..” Why did Roman have to sound so concerned? It wasn’t making this any easier. 

“I’m fine!” He snapped. It came out wobbly and weak.

“Just...ask someone. Ok?” Roman said.

Logan almost asked him then and there. 

But he didn't. He held his tongue, nodded stiffly and walked away. 

\---

Patton found him next. “Please? Just think about asking someone?” 

“I have been.” Logan said.

Patton looked excited. “And?” 

“No.” Logan said flatly. 

Patton’s smile dropped. Logan cursed himself internally but did nothing to fix it. 

“I am fine by myself.” Logan said. “I’m even trying to cut out regression entirely.” 

Lies.

Patton nodded, “Oh...If you think that’s what’s best.”

“It is.” Logan said firmly.

Patton was the one to walk away. Logan almost called him back.

Almost.

\---  
He broke down with Janus. Who just stared at him till he teared up. “You need someone. You want someone.” 

“...yes.” Logan said. 

Janus hugged him. “Who do you want to talk to about it?” 

“No one! I can do this on my own.” Logan said. And it was true. He didn’t like it, but it was true. 

Janus sighed. “Logan you shouldn’t close yourself off.”

Logan pulled away from the hug. “I..I can’t…” 

“Yes you can. You can ask for help.” Janus said softly.

Logan groaned. “Fine but… I’ll need to talk to you, Patton and Roman at the same time.” 

If Janus thought the request strange at all he didn’t show it. Within an hour all four of them were in the common rooms together. Janus, Roman and Patton sitting on the couch as Logan paced in front of them.

“I…” Logan cleared his throat. “I Want a caregiver..” 

Janus frowned. That was a half truth. Logan noticed the frown, “Care….givers.” He corrected.

Patton beamed at him. “I’m proud of you kiddo! Who did you have in mind?” 

Logan gestured to all of them. They stared at him for a second before.

“Wait..us?” Roman said.

Logan nodded.

“I thought you were mad at us!” Patton said.

“I am...I was...I…” Logan cleared his throat again. “I made this choice based on several factors and found that you three together were the optimal combination for caregiving.” 

Janus nodded, “And?”

Logan took a breath, “And….It felt...right.” 

The three looked at each other and nodded. “Alright.”

“I would love to watch over you.” 

“Ditto!” 

Logan relaxed. Maybe this would be ok.

\---

Logan sat curled up to Patton as Janus read him a story and Roman got him strawberry milk. He was warm, safe and most importantly, not alone.


	134. accident 1

It was the first FamILY dinner he had been invited to and he was..nervous to put it gently. Janus had been both excited and dreading it. 

When he showed he was surprised that no one glared at him (cough cough Virgil.) Logan even greeted him on his entry. “How are you tonight Janus?” 

“I’m doing...well.” Janus said, forcing himself to not lie. 

Logan’s eyebrows pinched. “I take it you are not lying?” 

“Not to the best of my abilities.” Why was this so awkward?

Patton beamed at him. “I understand that might be tough but like you said it just takes self control!” 

Janus gave Patton a small smile. It might be fair to say that Patton was his friend. After hours of talking they had reached a level of trust that Janus didn’t share with anyone other than Remus. He even went so far as to mention his age regression in passing and didn’t question why Patton knew what that was when he himself didn’t regress.

Janus took his seat at the table between Patton and Logan. He was silently thankful for that seeing as he didn’t want to sit next to either Virgil or Roman due to not being on the best terms with them. 

The food was...good? He thought? Honestly he wasn’t even paying attention to what he was eating he was more focused on not screwing up the conversation. One that Patton was dragging him into at every chance.

“Are you sure about that?” Roman said. In response to Janus wanting what was best for Thomas, even if that meant a less glamorous career than actor.

“If it is in his best interest then yes.” Janus said picking his words carefully.

Logan smiled slightly. “See?” 

Roman slammed his fork down, and yelled, “Unbelievable!” 

Janus jumped and dropped hard. He was terrified. He…

He…

He wet himself. 

What was he supposed to do now? Logan and Patton were sure to notice soon? Then what? What if they mentioned it? He didn’t want to get yelled at! Virgil was glaring at him. Patton was looking at him concerned. 

He sobbed. He wanted to run but that would just make it worse. 

Roman looked shocked for a moment before his expression turned guilty. Patton noticed why Janus was crying and was quick to cover it up. “Logan could you take Virgil and Roman to the other room while I calm Janus down?” 

Logan paused confused as to why Patton did just take Janus from the room before he noticed the darkened patch on Janus’ pants. He stood, “Follow me please.” He lead Roman and Virgil out of the room. 

Janus was shaking. He shrunk in on himself as he watched Patton. “Do you need help?” 

Janus nodded his head and sobbed again. “Are you little right now?” He nodded once more. 

Patton pulled him into a one armed hug before getting him to stand up. He cleaned up the chair before carefully walking Janus upstairs, standing between Janus and the others so they couldn’t see what happened. 

He ran a bath and got Janus in before taking the clothing to the wash and getting his cat onesie for Janus to wear afterwards. He got an adult diaper as well. 

As soon as Janus saw the diaper in Patton’s hand when he came back he started crying again. “S-s-sorry!” 

“Oh kiddo. No. It’s ok. It happens.” Patton reassured him. He ran a hair through Janus’ wet hair trying to calm him. 

After a few minutes Janus cried himself out and Patton managed to get him out of the tub and dried. Janus didn’t like the diaper but didn’t protest it being put on. He was glad for the onesie. 

Patton snuck Janus to his room and tucked him into bed. “I think you need a little bit of sleep after everything.” 

“Mmm.” Janus hummed tired. 

Patton smiled. “I’ll be back soon ok?” 

Janus’ eyes opened fully as he realized that Patton was leaving. “No...gotta stay!” 

“I’ll be back really fast ok? Can you be fine till then?” Patton asked.

Janus bite his lip, “Hug first?” 

Patton laughed quietly. “Ok.” He gave Janus a hug before going downstairs. 

“Is he ok?” roman asked. 

“He’s fine now. But I expect you to apologize later for scaring him.” Patton said, crossing his arms.

Virgil spoke up, “He’s little too isn’t he?” 

Patton frowned, “That’s not my place to say.” 

“So he is.” 

Patton sighed. He looked to Logan who just straightened his tie. 

“Maybe you can ask him yourself tomorrow.” Patton said.


	135. Team trouble 1

Logan was about five while Remus was fourteen. So one could argue that it was Patton’s fault for leaving them alone together. 

As soon as Patton left the room Remus turned to Logan and pulled a lighter out of his pocket. “Light it up kid!” 

Logan stuck his tongue out as he figured out how to turn on the lighter. Remus had to show him how to work it and close the lid when he was done. They started out burning paper, then moved on to the coffee table. 

Remus was careful to not let Logan get too close, or get hurt. He was less careful about himself not minding a few burns if something-

“You’re on fire!” Logan pointed out. 

Remus quickly patted down his sleeve, “Not anymore!”

Logan laughed before setting Remus’ other sleeve on fire. Remus gasped, “You little sneak!” He put the fire out and threw a bucket of water over the coffee table. It was badly scorched. 

“Whoops.” Remus said without any regret. 

“Are we gonna get in trouble for this?” Logan asked.

“Nah. We’ll be fine!...wanna go fill water balloons with mayonnaise and throw them at Virgil?” Remus asked.

Logan put the lighter down, “Yeah!” 

\---

Patton sat them both down on the couch. He crossed his arms, “Burnt the coffee table, threw mayonnaise balloons at Virgil and Roman-”

Remus got a high five from Logan. 

“-And you filled the toilet with bath bombs.” Patton finished.

“I thought you said we weren’t gonna get in trouble.” Logan said.

Remus laughed, he snapped his fingers and fixed the table and toilet. “There! No more problems!” 

There was a scream from upstairs. Patton jumped. “What was that?”

“I might have turned the mayonnaise into something that would clean itself.” Remus said.

“Like what?” At that moment a large amount of spiders crawled out across the ceiling. Patton screamed. 

Remus laughed. Logan frowned and poked him. “Not funny.” 

Remus sighed and snapped his fingers. The spiders disappeared, replaced with confetti. “Better?” 

Logan nodded. He then smiled, “I still have a balloon.” 

“You really are a sneak!” Remus praised before they threw it at Patton who was already off balance and ran off. 

“Wanna try to flood the bath with the bath bombs this time?” Remus asked.

Logan grinned excited, “yeah! I wanna see how many it takes!” 

Remus grabbed Logan’s hand and they took off. 

The titles are still multicolored from the permanent ink that Remus decided to throw in too.


	136. Not little I SWEAR! 1

Roman was laying on his stomach on the floor coloring as disney music played in the background. His door left open in case anyone needed him. He looked up when he heard a knock on the door frame. Virgil stood there more, awkward than normal. 

Roman smiled, “What brings you to my domain dark night?” Roman asked, shifting so he was sitting up. 

Virgil stepped in hands in his hoodie pockets. “I...noticed that you...Well.” Virgil gestured to the coloring book on the floor. 

“And? Would you like to join me?” Roman asked, already summoning a second coloring book for Virgil. Nightmare before Christmas themed. 

Virgil relaxed a little, “Yeah. I would. Thanks.” He sat down on the floor and pulled out a crayon from the pile on the floor. 

Roman went back to coloring. They both worked in silence for a while before Virgil spoke up. “Just so you know..Um..I am too.” 

Roman looked up at him. Virgil glanced at the coloring book again. What? An artist? Why didn’t he just say that? Was he embarrassed? Scared Roman would be mad at him. Roman smiles reassuringly, “Trust me when I say there is no problem with that. If anyone gives you any grief about it they’ll have me to mess with.”

That seemed to be the right thing to say as Virgil smiled a bit. “Thanks.” They went back to coloring. After a half hour Virgil finished his picture and stood. “We should do this again sometime.”

“Indeed!” Roman agreed. “The sooner the better!” 

Virgil shifted on his feet, “So...you don’t mind if I tell Logan and Patton about..this? Do you? I mean if you want to tell them yourself-” 

“I would never tell them something if you wanted me to keep it secret.” Roman promised. Why Virgil was making such a big deal about coloring he had no idea. He didn’t really understand Virgil that much but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to support him. “Tell they if you want. Do I need to be there for you?” 

Virgil smiled again, “nah. It’s cool. I’ve got it….thanks.” 

“Well good luck!” Roman said. 

“I might need it.” Virgil muttered as he left. Roman rolled his eyes, Virgil could be so over dramatic. And that was coming from him!

Roman went back to coloring. 

\---

Virgil took a breath before blurting it out. “I age regress.” Patton and Logan looked at him. “So does Roman!” He added before they could say anything.

“Oooookay?” Patton said. “What’s that?” 

Logan gave a brief explanation. “In all honesty I’m not surprised about Roman.” 

“It does make sense.” Patton agreed. 

“Yeah.” Virgil rubbed the back of his neck, “So um..Alright. I was wondering if you weren’t too weird out by this-”

“Not at all.” Logan said.

“Full support kiddo!” Patton added.

“Thanks...Would one or both. I’m not going to pick..And if you don’t want to I won’t hold it against you or anything! I just..” 

“Virgil.” Logan said, “Breath.” 

“Will you be my caregiver….ers?” He asked in a small voice.

“Of course!” Patton said. He turned to Logan. “What is that?”

“Patton don’t agree to things you don’t know about.” Logan said before giving an explanation. 

Patton frowned, “I thought I was already taking care of you.” 

“I mean. While I’m little.” Virgil clarified. 

“Well duh! I’m not going to stop just because you need a LITTLE extra help!” Patton said brightly. 

“I agree to help.” Logan said. 

Virgil smiled. This was going better than he expected. 

\---

Roman was...confused. He wasn’t going to say anything in case he insulted Virgil but...He didn find it weird that he was wandering around in the middle of the day in a onesie with a..was that a pacifier????

Even stranger was Logan and Patton took it in stride and even seemed to think that Roman wanted to do that too. 

Was this a prank? A joke he didn’t get? Was he supposed to comment on it?

“Are you sure you don’t want to try a paci?” Patton asked.

“Err...no thanks pat.” Roman said holding up a hand.

“Patton, he might not be little right now.” Logan said.

Little??? What?? “Alright what is going on? Am I missing something? I feel like I’m missing something.” Roman said.

“You don’t have to hide it. Virgil told us!” Patton said.

“It wasn’t like you were trying that hard to hide it.” Logan said.

“Hide what?” Roman asked. Was this about the art thing? What did that have to do with dressing in a onesie?

“About your age regression.” Patton said. 

“My...what?” Logan and Patton glanced at each other. 

“You really don’t need to hide it.” Logan assured him. “As you can see we have already accepted Virgil for it. We aren’t going to judge you.”

“We can even take care of you too if you want!” Patton said excitedly. “Oh! You two could have playdates!”

“Back up. What is age regression? And Virgil said I did that?” Roman said. He wasn’t going to argue with Virgil….Yet.

Logan gave him an in depth description of age regression which raised more questions than it answered. 

Why did Virgil think he age regressed? Did he age regress and not know? No he was very sure that he didn’t age regress. He just liked to do kid activities. That wasn’t the same thing! 

Roman shook his head, “I don’t age regress.” 

Patton crossed his arms, “Now Roman lying isn’t a good habit.” 

Roman blinked in surprise. “I’m not lying??” 

“Do you need to go in time out?” 

Roman froze. WHAT?

“Alright. Call me when you aren’t acting crazy.” He said leaving. 

“Roman!” 

He kept walking. He wasn’t watching where he was going; he was just getting out of a situation that was crazier than he liked. 

Speaking of crazy. 

Remus looked up as Roman entered the Dark side common rooms. He was hanging upside down over the back of the couch eating a confetti. “Oh. What are you doing here?” He’s mouth is full of colorful paper.

Roman groaned and collapsed on the couch next to his brother. “I just had the strangest conversation.” He threw himself into the story of what just happened as Remus half listened but paid more attention the more Roman talked about…

“Little space! I mean what even is that??” 

Remus was silent for a solid minute. “I mean...I do that.” 

“You do?” Roman asked. 

“Yeah! I mean.” Remus flipped off the couch onto the floor then jumped to his feet, spilling the confetti in the process. “It’s great! No filter! No worries about anything!” 

“Isn’t that you normally?” Roman asked. 

“Well… I mean I’m a bit more...PG when it happens but other than that….yeah.” Remus said before offering Roman some of the small amount of confetti that remained in the bag. “Want some.”

“No thanks. So if you regress….Do you have someone who watches you? Like..a caregiver?”

Remus’ face dropped. “I asked Janus but...turns out I’m a ‘bit much’ for him. So...no.” 

“Oh.” Roman frowned. Thinking through his offer. “Well Logan and Patton seem to want someone else to take care of.” 

Remus snorted and threw himself down on the couch again. “You’re kidding right? There’s no way they would watch me. No one would.” 

“I would.” WHY DID HE SAY THAT? He almost took it back but, The way Remus’ face lit up… He had to try. 

“Really?” Remus said almost bouncing. 

“I mean. I’ll try.” Roman said.

“Good enough!” Remus said. “I’ll see you in a couple hours! I gotta get in my head space!” He said running off. 

Roman watched him go, a sinking feeling that he got himself in something he had no idea how to handle sinking in. 

\---

Remus showed up at Roman’s door not wearing a onesie like Roman thought he might, but a pair of shorts and a t-shirt that he clearly made himself that was a mix of tye-dye and gory images with stains that looked like real blood. He had a stuffed octopus that was looking worse for the wear and a paci on a clip. 

“Hihi!” He said moving past Roman into the room. Roman closed the door. 

“Hi? So what do I do?” 

“You watch me.” Remus said. “Duh.” His voice was higher...more kid like. Which made sense. 

“Alright. So you want to do something?” Roman asked. 

“Mmmmm I dunno.” Remus said putting the octopus on Roman’s bed. 

“Does he have a name?” Roman asked. 

“Yeah! Cephy!” Remus said bouncing. “He collects skulls!” 

“Really?” Roman asked, playing along. 

Remus nodded clearly having fun that someone was so interested in his stuffed friend. “He eats all the bones cept the skulls! Those he pol-....pol..”

“Polishes?” 

“Yeah! Shiny and stuff.” Remus said waving his hands as he talked. 

Roman looked over Cephy. “Mmm. He’s looking a little rough. Do you want me to patch him up?” 

“Yes! We can make a octopus hospitel!” Remus said grabbing Cephy and shoving him into Roman’s hands. “I’ll be the mad doctor and you can be the real doctor who does the...surge- a- ge!” 

“Surgery.” Roman said.

“Yeah! Dat!” Remus said beaming. 

Roman had to smile too. Remus was just..lacking a better word...cute like this. Janus was missing out thinking that Remus was ‘too much’ to handle. 

Roman sewed up Cephy and put a little magic in him to make him softer again. Remus was thrilled he watched the whole time asking questions about what Roman was doing and talking about other things that Cephy liked to do.

“-and then bam! Dead!” Remus fell over onto Roman’s bed.

“Oh dear.” Roman said half listening to the story half focusing on the stuffie in his hands. He needed to put the finishing touch on. A spell that made it so Cephy didn’t get torn up again. 

“There! All done!” Remus jumped up and grabbed his stuffed friend. 

“Cephy! You’re alright! You lived Surge-a-ge!” Remus said hugging him. Roman didn’t bother correcting him. He was going to keep messing words up. As long as Roman got the gist of it he didn’t mind.

Remus looked at Roman suddenly, “I’m hunge.” 

“Oh. Well it is getting late isn’t it? We should both get some dinner.” Roman said stand and without thinking about it took Remus’ hand and led them to the kitchen. By late it was LATE. Almost midnight. 

Roman was kind of glad no one else was awake. He didn’t want to face Patton and Logan yet. Nor confront Virgil about saying he was little when he wasn’t. 

He made eggs which was the first thing that Remus suggested that was edible. And toast. With jam….and juice.

Ok so he made breakfast at midnight. Remus didn’t have a problem with it. He even tried to feed Cephy some. 

“Done!” Remus said, pushing his plate away. “Now we play something else?”

“I don’t think so you little gremlin, It’s bedtime.” Roman said.

Wait...did he just call remus a gremlin? Shit! He looked at Remus closely but the only thing he was upset about was having to go to bed. 

“Ugh! But I wanna stay… stay…’yawn’ up!” Remus said before yawning a second time. 

“Nope. Bedtime. Gremlin.” Roman said running with the nickname. Remus grumbled but agreed. 

“Carry me?” He muttered. Roman picked him up and made sure he still had Cephy before taking him and tucking them both in bed. 

“Goodnight gremlin.” Roman said, flipping off the lights.

“Night night.” Remus muttered half asleep. 

Roman turned around and jumped as he was met with Janus. “Gah!”

“You did good today.” Janus said. “Watching him.” 

“I don’t get why you think he’s too much to be honest.” Roman said a little tense.

Janus laughed, “You haven’t seen his temper tantrum yet….besides I’m not very partenal….Not like you it seems.” 

“Thank you?” 

“Good luck Roman.” Janus said turned, “You’re going to need it.”


	137. Not little I SWEAR! 2

Roman sat reading from a storybook as Remus played on the floor half listening. He noticed Janus out of the corner of his eye reading his own book. Only Janus hadn’t turned any pages in almost twenty minutes giving Roman the sneaking suspicion that he was listening. He read just slightly louder and kept an eye out for any movement from Janus. 

Sure enough Janus closed his book after a few minutes and set it aside but didn’t get up and leave. Instead he just closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair farther. Roman’s smile widened as he continued reading. 

“It’s lunch time.” Remus reminded him. Roman closed the book and saw Janus open his eyes and caught Roman watching him. Janus wordlessly got up and left. 

“Yeah. Let’s get you some food.” Roman said, taking Remus’ hand and taking him to the kitchen. 

Janus had been hanging around Remus and Roman when a lot. More than Roman expected of him. He had never really thought of Janus as being sociable but it was clear that he was. 

Roman couldn’t stop thinking about Janus’...warning? It felt like a warning. Like something was going to happen that he would NEED luck for. But he had no idea what. Were Patton and Logan going to become even more intolerable?   
They were trying to get him to regress around Virgil and didn’t believe him when he said that he didn’t regress. They firmly believed he was just being shy about it? Why would he be? It didn’t make sense to him but it seemed to make some kind of sense to them since they would not drop it!

He sighed. Remus looked up at him from his lunch. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing you need to worry about gremlin.” Roman said, brushing Remus’ hair out of his face. 

Remus hummed, Roman could tell by the look in his eyes that he was snapping out of his younger headspace. “Roman.” 

“It’s nothing!...Really! Just...you know. Them.” Roman said, waving his hand. At least for the most part Virgil seemed to believe that he didn’t regress. But Patton and Logan just would not let it go. 

“Do I need to bust some heads?” Remus asked.

“No.” Roman rolled his eyes. He sat down and crossed his arms. He looked towards the hallway that Janus had disappeared down before leaning forward on the table. “Do you now what’s up with Janus?”

“Did he say something to you?” Remus asked confused.

“Well...no. I just thought it was weird that he was hanging out so much when you’re regressed when he thought you were ‘too much to handle’.” Roman said using finger quotations.

“Well he’s not handling me is he? That’s you!” Remus said. “Who is doing a good job by the way.” He muttered the second half before taking a quick bite.

Roman blinked at the praise. Remus was begrudging to give him any compliments when he was bigger due to their dumb slibing ravalry they had going on. 

“Still…” 

“If he didn’t say anything he’s fine! He’ll say something if he has a problem!” Remus said.

Roman raised an eyebrow. “Really? The master of lies and secrets is going to be completely open about his problems?”

“Yeah...why not?” Remus asked. “I mean you’re part of the group now.” 

“The group?” 

“One of us! You spend more down here than with the others at this point!” Remus said a bit happy about it. 

Roman froze. He….he did. Didn’t he? He just wanted to avoid them from trying to baby him and he liked taking care of Remus and talking with Janus and-

He stood up so fast he made Remus jump at the sudden action. “I need to go talk to them!” 

Remus waved him off. “Good luck.” 

Roman paused. Why did they both think he needed luck so much? 

\----

He ran into Virgil first. Who for the most part was regretful that he jumped to a conclusion and got Roman into this mess. 

“Are you ok? You looked stressed out.” Virgil said.

“Fine.” Roman said.

“Right. Because you’re known for your one word answers.” Virgil crossed his arms. 

“Alright so I’m not feeling my best at the moment.” Roman said, throwing a hand in the air. 

“Any way I can help?” Virgil asked.

“Oh I think you’ve done enough!” Roman snapped. Virgil flinched. Roman’s anger died down. “Sorry. You didn’t know this would happen.” 

“Still...I should made sure I knew for sure what was going on first before-”

“Breath. It’s fine. I’m sure they’ll give up on me ‘regressing’ any day now.” Roman said, patting Virgil’s upper arm. “Hopefully.” He muttered as he moved past Virgil. 

He found Patton and Logan in the common room. “Oh hey! You’re back!” 

“Yep!” 

“Are you feeling alright?” Logan frowned.

Roman took a breath. “I need you two to drop this whole me regressing thing.” 

Patton and Logan glanced at each other. “Are..are you sure?” 

“Very.” Roman said flatly.

Patton nodded to himself. Logan stood up, “Alright. It’s your choice.”

Roman was feeling hopeful that he had gotten through to them. Then Patton spoke, “If you ever change your mind about doing it alone we’ll be here.” Roman groaned. 

Well...It was better than nothing. 

\---

While they did drop trying to get him to regress around them. They were checking to make sure he was regressing on his own and suggested he go regress to get rid of some stress when he was tense. He finally just agreed to going somewhere else, (them taking this as him going to regress) just so he didn’t have to bother with it. 

He stormed into the dark commons and froze as he saw Remus regressed...with Janus. It was clear from his pacifier and childlike outfit that he was little too. Unless this was some weird joke he was missing out on. 

“Janus?!?” He accidentally yelled.

Janus and Remus both jumped. Janus looked up terrified, tears appearing in his eyes. Roman’s caregiving instincts kicked in. He dropped down next to Janus and quickly went about calming him.

“Hey. No it’s ok. See? Everything is fine.” Roman said softly. 

Janus stared at him with wide eyes. He slowly reached out and touched Roman’s face before reaching out with both arms. Roman pulled him into his lap. Janus cuddled up as close as he could to Roman’s chest. 

Remus whined, “Hey!” He crawled over and Roman hugged him to his side. Remus wasn’t that cuddly but he must have been a bit jealous of Janus at the moment. 

Oh boy. Maybe this is what he needs luck for. 

\---

Janus stopped regressing as Roman served them supper. He started shifting in his chair awkwardly and clearly wanted to leave. 

“Hey.” Roman said gently. “We don’t have to talk about it now if you don’t want to. I can pretend it never happened if you want.” 

That seemed to be the right thing to say as Janus relaxed a bit. He sat back. “No..This needs to be addressed.”

Roman sat down. “Alright.” 

Janus stared at his plate of food, across from him Remus was eating quickly. His legs kicking back and forth. Those his eyes said he was older than he was acting. 

Janus was quiet for a while before speaking. “I can’t handle Remus’ regression because I regress too.” 

Roman nodded. “It causes it?” 

Janus nodded. He looked up at Roman. “So….”

“If you want I can watch both of you at the same time. It’s not too much.” Roman couldn’t really promise that but today had gone well so why not at least try?

Janus stared at Roman for a solid minute before speaking. “I’d like that.” 

Roman smiled. Remus cheered. “Little friend!” Roman and Janus both smiled at that. “Maybe Virgil could join us for a playdate!” Janus’ smile froze. 

Roman held his breath for Janus’ reaction. After a second Janus unfroze and nodded, “Worth a shot.” 

\---

Setting up the playdate was more work than he thought. Patton was sure that having Remus around a regressed Virgil would be bad for him. “I just don’t want him getting hurt!” 

Roman assured him that he had been watching Remus, (“Like a big brother!” Patton said completely blowing over how Roman said he was Remus’ caregiver) and that he wouldn’t hurt Virgil or Janus.

Logan was the one who agreed. “We’ll both be there. We can watch them.” 

“I’m so proud of you for doing this!” Patton told him. He was almost sure that Patton thought he was finally going to regress around them.

He just smiled tightly and moved on with setting everything up. Virgil was genuinely excited about it. While Remus and Janus had playdates together before, Virgil never had. So while he was nervous about it, he was also ready to play. 

Roman held Janus and Remus’ hands as he took them to light side common room where there was a pillow fort set up, snacks were being made fresh in the kitchen and the t.v was set up for movies. Of course there were toys in a chest in the back of the pillow fort due to the fact that the t.v was most likely just going to be background noise. 

Virgil was waiting in the pillow fort. They had decided before to have them all small before getting them together in case an argument broke out and they couldn’t regress. 

Janus surprised all of them by running over as soon as he saw Virgil and hugging him. Remus beamed and ran over to join the hug. Roman smiled at them. 

“Do you want to go join in kiddo?” Patton asked.

Roman shook his head, “I’ve got to finish up the snacks so-”

“Pfft! You don’t need to worry about that!” Patton said. “Logan and I have that! Just go play!” 

“I’m here to watch them. Not play.” Roman said firmly.

“You don’t have to.” Logan said. “We are more than capable of watching all four of you.” 

Roman grit his teeth. “I am not regressing.” 

Patton gave him that stern look that said he wanted him to stop acting and just go along with it. Roman didn’t back down. He walked over and sat on the couch so he could keep an eye on Remus and Janus. 

Virgil waved to him. 

Roman relaxed a little. He could get through this.

\---

He could not get through this! He was holding himself back from yelling at Patton, “I do not regress.” He said as he fixed Janus’ paci clip.

“You don’t have to hide it! We know!” Patton said. “I thought we got past this!” 

“You are not listening to me! Neither of you are!” Roman snapped. 

Logan frowned. Janus tugged on Roman’s sleeve. He was getting upset at all the angry faces. Roman picked him up. “It’s ok.” He said soothing him.

He took a breath. He can do this. This is fine. 

Until Patton tried to take Janus from him with a quick you don’t need to do that. “Oh! I think I do!” 

Janus started crying and Roman felt even worse. This isn’t how he wanted tonight to go. He walked into the other room with Janus to calm him down.

“You two really suck ass you know that right?” Remus said clearly not regressed anymore. Neither was Virgil who was glaring at them.

“I told you that I was wrong and he doesn’t regress! Why can’t you get that?” 

“Virgil.” Patton said. “Then why does he know so much about it?”

“He doesn’t regress.” Remus said firmly. “He takes care of me when I’m regressed!” 

“Well maybe if he didn’t have to he could regress! Maybe he’s so busy dealing with you that he doesn’t!” Patton argued.

Logan stepped between them before Remus could punch Patton. “Patton I think they are telling the truth. We were wrong about Roman regressing.” 

“What? But..You said that-”

“And I was wrong.” Logan said.

Patton deflated. “Oh….oh no.” 

“We need to apologize.” Logan said.

Patton nodded. 

Roman came back in with a sleeping Janus. “Remus are you ready to go?” 

“In a minute. These two have something to say to you.” Remus said. 

“We’re sorry.” Logan said.

Roman’s eyebrows shot up. “I...what?”

“We didn’t believe you...we didn’t trust you to tell us the truth. And we’re sorry. We should have listened to you.” Patton said.

Roman smiled, “Thank you. Remus?” 

“Yeah yeah. Time to go.” Remus said walking over and taking Janus from Roman. “I’ll get him tucked into bed. You can handle this.” 

Roman nodded. Remus smiled at his brother and winked before leaving. 

They talked for a while. Both of them were really listening to Roman about how he wasn’t a regressor he was a caregiver. 

“That….makes more sense.” Logan said.

“It suits you.” Virgil said.

Roman smiled. “Thank you. I’ve found that I have quite the talent for it.”

Patton shifted, “Roman...I’m sorry.” 

“It’s alright Patton. I forgive you. You saw what you wanted to see.” Roman said. Roman looked at Virgil, “Not like I haven’t done that before. The important thing is moving past it.” 

“That’s….good advice.” Virgil said surprised.

Roman looked at him offended. “I do have good ideas you know!” 

“And we promise we’ll listen to them.” Patton said. “To you.” 

Roman nodded. Guess he didn’t need luck after all. He just needed help from people he cared about. And who cared about him. 

“Oh stop it! I can almost hear you being sappy!” Virgil said. 

“What are you talking about?” Roman said.

“You’ve got that look on your face.” 

“I do not have a look! I have looks!” 

“Yeah sure-” 

Virgil and Roman fell into their normal banter. The awkward air that had been between them was gone. They were back to normal. Or rather a new normal.


	138. Not little I SWEAR! bonus ending.

Patton was jealous of Roman. That he had the ability to be a regressor and he just chose not to...it seemed like a waste. Patton wanted to be allowed to be little and enjoy the childish things like Virgil, and Remus, and Janus but...He couldn’t. 

He had to be the dad. He was the dad. He had to be there to take care of Virgil. Remus and Janus too when Roman couldn’t. (Which was rare.)

Patton had tried to bring it up to Logan but he didn’t want to hear someone confirm everything he was telling himself. He wanted to keep pretending that he could be little. Really little. That he didn’t have to fight that headspace tooth and nail. 

Maybe he was angry at Roman for giving up what he wanted so badly for himself. Maybe he knew deep down that Roman wasn’t lying but he wanted Roman to try it. So he pushed it too far. He pushed him away. And Logan followed his lead, despite Logan expressing concerns that Roman was telling the truth Patton held firm in his believe that if he could just get Roman to try it he would like it and regress and be happy and-

“Are you ok?” Roman asked him. Patton jumped. 

“Oh. You sure scared me. Did you need something?” Patton asked smiling. He knew that he was deflecting. He just hoped that Roman didn’t pick up on it. 

Roman frowned. “Did you not hear me?” 

“What did you say?” Patton asked faking innocence. 

“I asked if you were ok.” Roman said. 

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Patton asked. It wasn’t a lie. It just wasn’t a direct answer. Patton was pretty good at making sure Decei- Janus didn’t show up. He didn’t need that right now. 

Roman shrugged, “Fair enough. Do you need any help?” 

“Nope! Why don’t you go check on Virgil for me?” Patton said. He kept the bitterness out of his voice at the request. Ever since the playdate and the aftermath Virgil took a liking to Roman as a caregiver. Maybe even more than Patton.

Failing at the one thing he was supposed to be good at. 

Patton shook his head to clear the thought. He was NOT going to hold it against Roman! He was just doing what came naturally to him and didn’t for Patton or Logan. He was just…

Patton sighed and continued cooking. 

\---

Patton watched as Roman effortlessly balanced the needs of all three littles. Engaging with Remus and Virgil while making sure Janus didn’t get overwhelmed or lonely. He was great at it. Better than Patton ever would be.

“You’ve been unusually quiet.” Logan commented. 

“Just not in the talking mood.” Patton said glumly,

Logan looked at him concerned. “Are you alright?”

Patton bit his lip before taking a breath and speaking. “Do you think I could….be a little?” 

“I doubt it.” Logan said, confirming Patton’s fears. “So rest assured. You have nothing to worry about.” 

“Right.” Patton forced a smile, “Do you mind helping Roman if he needs anything? I think I’m going to bed early.” 

Logan agreed. Patton walked away noting that Virgil didn’t wave or anything. He made no sign he even saw him despite looking right at him. 

Guess Roman really was better at this than he was. 

He lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. The nagging fuzzy feeling filled his head and he started crying.

Nonono. He wasn’t suppose be little. He scolded himself. He gotta be big. Even alone he gotta. 

It took a lot of effort to pull himself out of that headspace. It was getting hard to do lately. That worried him. What happens when he regresses in front of someone and can’t snap out of it in time? What if it’s Roman? After trying to force Roman to be little and scolding him for hiding it? 

How horrible was he for doing the thing he warned Roman not to do? How bad was he for failing at what he was supposed to do best. He was supposed to be able to take care of everyone and he…

He was crying louder than he should be. 

There was a knock at his door. “Pat? Are you alright?” What was Virgil doing up here?

“F-fine.” Patton winced at how watery his voice sounded.

There was a pause. “Alright I’m coming in.” 

Patton wanted to tell him to go away but...He really really wanted someone to be there. So he didn’t say anything as Virgil opened the door into the dark room. The light from the hallway falling on Patton’s face. 

“Have you been crying?...wait that’s a stupid quietion I could hear you.” Virgil muttered stepping in and closing the door behind him. He switched on the light.

“What’s wrong?” He asked sitting on the edge of the bed.

Patton sobbed. “I...I’m a little too.” 

Virgil looked surprised. “What? Really? Why didn’t you say anything before?” 

“I didn’t...I’m not supposed to be little. I’m a dad! I can’t be-”

“Who told you that?” Virgil sounded mad. 

“No one.” Patton said which was true. 

“Patton you can be little no one is going to judge you.” Virgil promised. 

“But..I can’t! After everything I did.” Patton said.

“You...did?” 

“I tried to force Roman to be little. I thought that he was hiding it because I was hiding it and I yelled at him for that when I was the one hiding it and he’s going to be so angry at me!” Patton said. 

“Take a breath.” Virgil said. He grabbed Patton’s hand. “I doubt he’ll be mad if you explain it to him.”

Patton wasn’t convinced. But he agreed. “I’ll...Tell him tomorrow.” 

Virgil smiled. Patton didn’t.

\---

He’s hands were shaking. Why was this so hard? 

“You said you wanted to talk?” Roman said sitting down across from Patton at the table. If he noticed the trembling in Patton’s hands he didn’t say anything.

“It’s about...regression.” Patton said.

That was the wrong way to start it. Roman was immediately on edge. “What about It?”

“I..I think I regress.” Patton confessed his voice was small.

“You….How long have you known?” Roman said.

“Since...Virgil told us.” Patton said.

Roman glared at him. “You mean the whole time you told me that HIDING It was BAD. YOU were doing that?” 

“I thought that you were doing it! And I can’t be little so I wanted you to be able to be!” Patton said in a rush. 

Roman paused. “What do you mean you couldn’t be little?”

“I’m supposed to take care of everyone else. How can I do that if I’m not…” Patton took a breath. 

“I understand.” Roman said. 

“You do?” Patton looked up at him. Roman nodded. 

“I don’t approve...but I understand.” Roman said. Patton’s shoulders slumped. “And You already apologized so...If you want to try regressing I’m willing to watch you if you want.”

Patton sobbed. Roman moved around the table and hugged him. “Thank you.” 

“Of course.” 

Patton, it turned out, was the oldest of the littles. So in the end he still ended up taking care of the others. Even regressed. 

“He’s doing well.” Logan stated as Roman and he watched them play. Patton was playing very carefully with Janus. 

“He is. This suits him.” Roman said. He smiled. In the end it seemed that all the pieces fit together perfectly. Roman glanced sideways at Logan, “You wouldn’t happen to be a regressor and haven’t told us yet right?”

“No. I don’t regress.” Logan said. Janus didn’t react to that so he must have been telling the truth. 

“Good. I honestly don’t think I could watch all of you without help.” Roman said.

Logan laughed. Roman’s smile widened.


	139. gotta share

Janus did not plan this well. Patton and Remus had a habit of asking for any type of food they saw him eating when they were little. Normally he had no problems giving them some. 

But right now it was something he just wasn’t comfortable sharing with them as it was apple cider with whiskey. To be fair he had started drinking it before they regressed. His mistake was thinking he could finish the drink while they were little. 

He tried giving them plain apple cider but-

“It doesn’t smell the same!” Remus complained. “I want nana Jan’s apple juice!” 

“Yeah! Juice!” Patton copied. Remus regressed older than Patton and Patton had a habit of copying his ‘older brother’. 

Janus frowned. “This isn’t for kids.” He said. 

Remus crossed his arms. So did Patton. Janus looked across the room at Logan and Virgil for help. 

Virgil just smiled, and mouthed “good luck.” 

Logan on the other hand at least tried to help. “I only have apple cider too.” 

“But I want what he’s having!” Remus stomped his foot and pointed at Janus. 

His second mistake was setting his drink down. “Now Remus this isn’t for-”

Patton had darted forward, grabbed the drink and drank some before Janus could stop him. Remus took it from Patton and Janus took it from him as Patton gagged.

“Yucky.” He was wiping his tongue with his sleeve. Patton didn’t drink much thankfully. How that just fueled Remus’ NEED to have some. 

“That’s why you don’t get an- HEY!”

Remus managed to snatch it out of Janus’ hands and drain the rest of it. Janus was starting to panic. “What do I do?” 

“It wasn’t that much and it’s not like they’re real kids.” Virgil said with a shrug.

“Thanks.” Janus said drily. 

“Can I have more?” Remus asked.

“No. You weren’t supposed to have some in the first place!”

“But sharen.” Patton muttered. 

“Gotta share.” Remus agrees innocently. 

Janus stuck with plain apple cider after that, Something Patton was happy about while Remus pouted.


	140. Birthday blowout.

Normally Logan wouldn’t be excited about his birthday. That is as an adult he wasn’t excited. Regressed Logan loved it though. 

He ran down the stairs on little legs (he shrunk during his regression). He bounced into the kitchen. “Hi!” He said to Patton and Roman.

“Hi!” Patton said.

Roman smiled at him, “Is someone excited for today?” 

“Yeah!” Logan said.

Patton laughed and ruffled Logan’s hair. “Happy birthday kiddo.” 

Logan got toast with jam for breakfast and orange juice. By the time he finished eating Virgil showed up. “Oh...morning.” 

“Hi!” Logan said. “Guess what?” 

“What?”

“It’s my birthday!” 

“Really? Wow. Happy birthday.” Virgil said. “How old are you?” 

Logan stopped and stared ahead. “I feel five but it’s my birthday so I’m six!” 

Virgil hid his smile and nodded. “That makes sense.” Logan beamed. 

“I’m gonna go see Remus.” Logan said.

Roman grimaced, The last thing they needed was Remus convincing Logan to blow something up on his birthday. “I’ll go too.” 

“Be careful.” Patton called as they left.

\---

“Remus!” Logan yelled as he tackled Remus’ legs. 

“Hi starshine. Happy birthday!” Remus said picking Logan up and putting him on his shoulders. 

“Where’s Janus?” Logan asked looking around.

“He’s probably still sleeping. Wanna go scare him awake?” Remus asked.

“Mmm maybe later. I wanna make something with you!” Logan said.

“I’ll help.” Roman offered.

“Help make it BORING!” Remus said. 

Logan stuck his tongue out, “Yeah! Boring!” 

Roman gasped offended. “I am not boring!” 

“Then you’ll have no problem helping us make a blood bomb.” Remus said smiling sharply. 

Logan smacked Remus, “No blood.”

“It’s not real blood.” Remus promised.

“Mmmm thin ice.” Logan said narrowing his eyes. 

“Maybe something less….gory sounding.” Roman suggested.

“Party balloons!” Logan said. 

“Just balloons?” Remus asked disappointed. 

Logan grinned. “Yeah! With surprises inside!” 

“What kind of surprises?” Roman asked weary. 

Logan and Remus just grinned at each other.

\---

The party was set up fairly quickly by Virgil and Patton. A happy birthday banner, a pile of presents and a large cake. Remus brought the balloons with the ‘surprises’ and darts. Each balloon turned into something when popped. 

Logan was bouncing along behind him as he put the balloon around the room. “There! All set up!” Remus said.

“Aww you remembered the balloons!” Patton said before turning towards Virgil, “I knew we were forgetting something.”

Janus was the last to show up. 

“Ok. So cake?” He asked.

“Sure! It’s your party!” Patton said. 

“No singing.” Logan said flatly. 

“Aww that’s half the fun!” 

“Do you honestly what to hear what Remus is going to sing?”

“...fair enough.” 

Everyone got some cake, Logan only ate half of his before moving on to presents. There were several things that he was sure adult him would like but for now were boring. Then there were toys and puzzles for kid him. 

“Thank you.” He said. 

“Balloon time?” Remus asked.

“Balloon time!” Logan said excitedly. Patton looked at Roman confused. 

Roman shook his head. 

Remus handed Logan a handful of darts. Patton got concerned, “Umm that doesn’t look saFE!”

Logan threw a dart and barely missed Virgil. He did hit a balloon that turned into a pile of candy. 

“WHAT THE -”

“CHILD!”

“-FFFFFFFFFFFFUN ACTIVITY!” Virgil said.

Logan missed the next balloon twice before hitting it and it exploded coating everything nearby in fake blood. Including Roman who screamed and jumped before spitting trying to get fake blood out of his mouth. 

Janus sighed heavily and looked over at a laughing Remus. “Why?”

“He asked for surprises!” 

It took over an hour, (and many strange random items later) For Logan to finish popping all the balloons. 

“Honestly some of his tamer stuff.” Virgil admitted.

Roman still had fake blood on the side of his face. “Well! That was fun! But It’s getting late.” 

“No it’s not.” Logan said before looking at the clock. “Oh.” 

“Time for some real food then bedtime.” Patton said.

\----

Logan was tucked into bed by Remus. “You have fun today?” 

“Yeah!” Logan said holding a new plush to his chest. 

“Good!” Remus stood and walked over to the opposite wall and plugged in a nightlight. 

Logan frowned, “I don’t need a nightlight.” 

“I think You’ll like this one.” Remus said. He turned off the lights and stars floated around the room. 

“A space map.” Logan said wide eyed. 

“Happy birthday kid.” Remus said. 

Logan smiled and looked up at the stars as he fell asleep.


	141. cupcakes 3

Patton woke up late. He felt awful and he needed extra time to get himself enough strength to face the day with a smile. He stepped out of his room and was hit with the smell of pancakes. He got to the kitchen and found everyone already there, loud chattering between everyone muffled the sound of his approach. The pancakes he noticed were all silly shapes and he felt a flare of excitement before he realized that no one came and woke him up for this. 

They took one of his ideas and did it without him. 

That stung enough that his smile dropped for a second before he took a breath, smiled again and walked into the kitchen where everyone was mostly done with their food. “Good morning!” 

“Good morning. Did you sleep well?” Logan asked.

“Yup.” Patton lied. He saw Janus looking at him from the corner of his eye but ignored it. “I see we’re having a fun breakfast this morning!” 

“We would have waited for you but the schedule….” Logan said.

Patton waved him off. “I’m glad you all had fun! It is getting late.” Almost nine in the morning. Everyone should have been working a half hour ago. They made time to do this...without him. 

There was silence in the kitchen as Patton grabbed a plate of pancakes. Don’t even want to talk around him anymore?

That’s fine. He turned around and noticed that, one everyone was staring at him, and two there were no empty seats. Why were they looking at him like...oh. They were waiting for him to leave. 

“Well. I’ll leave you to it!” Patton said before quickly exiting the kitchen. He didn’t answer the call from Roman for him to come back. 

He set the pancakes down on his nightstand and sat down on the edge of his bed. There were still shreds of paper on the floor. 

He hugged himself. So they did do stuff together. They just didn’t do it with him. Why? Was he that untolerable? 

There was a knock at his door an hour later, his pancakes untouched and soggy. “Yes?” He opened it to find Virgil standing there.

“Hey, are you ok?” Virgil asked.

Patton smiled. “Of course!” He lied.

Virgil frowned. “So there wasn’t a real reason you ran away at breakfast...and didn’t eat it?” Virgil asked, noticing the pancakes. “I promise I watched Logan cook them. They aren’t poisoned.”

“I didn’t think they were.” Patton said lightly. “Just didn’t feel hungry after all.” That much was true. He lost his appetite the longer he looked at the cat face staring at him. 

“Well...I’ve got some time if you wanna hang out.” 

He pities you. Patton’s smile tightened. “I don’t want to keep you from anything important.” 

Virgil gave him an odd look. “You are important.” 

Patton brushed off the comment. “You really don’t have to.” 

“I want to?” Virgil said.

Oh. Maybe this isn’t for you. Maybe this is for him. Patton thought. “Oh. Do you need to regress?” 

“Ummm no?” 

“You don’t have to be shy about it.” 

“I really don’t.” Virgil said shifting. Great going. Now he’s uncomfortable. 

Patton’s smile dropped. “Oh...sorry.”

“It’s ok if you need time alone you know?” Virgil said. “I’m not going to force you to hang out with me.”

“That’s my line.” Patton muttered.

“You don’t think I want to hang out with you?” Virgil asked, a little shocked.

Patton was getting frustrated. “You never have before unless you need something.” 

Virgil looked guilty. Patton paled, “I don’t mind it! I mean I like that you can come to me if you need something! I just wish you would tell me what the problem was so I could fix it!” 

“Pat…”

“I should go.” Patton blurted out before closing the door. He leaned against it and slid to the floor. 

Stupid…  
\---

He skipped lunch, threw away the very soggy cold pancakes, and only left his room when it was time to start supper. He wasn’t going to make Logan cook again. 

He found everyone in the kitchen again before he got there. Remus was laughing and everyone seemed to be helping cook. 

Oh…

There really wasn’t any need for him to come down was there? The pain of being unneeded hit him hard enough that he regressed.

He’s eyes filled with tears. Roman was the first to notice him. “Padre how are...what’s wrong?” He was quick to walk over at the sight of Patton crying. 

Patton shook his head. Roman held out his arm, “Do you need a hug?”

“Do you wanna hug me?” Patton asked, hugging himself and taking a step back. There was silence in the kitchen. 

“Why wouldn’t I?” Roman asked, confused.

“Cuz I’m stupid.” Patton muttered. “And silly...and no one invited me for pancakes!” 

“We wanted to let you sleep. You looked like you needed it.” Logan said gently. 

Patton looked at him and sniffed, “But- but! No one ever has time for my ideas! And then...you do it!” 

“Without you?” Roman asked, finally getting why Patton was so upset.

Patton nodded, “More fun without me.” 

“That’s not true.” Janus said.

“We did it FOR YOU!” Remus said. “Then YOU left!” 

Patton was small, and confused. They didn’t want to spend time with him then they did? 

“I don’t know.” 

“Do you still want a hug?” Roman asked. Patton threw himself at him hugging him tightly. “You aren’t stupid. And you are right it is weird for us to do that. But we want to make more time for you.” 

“Really?” 

“Really.” 

“So want to decorate cupcakes?” Virgil asked. 

Patton finally saw what they were making. Or rather, setting up to make. He beamed. “Yeah!” 

They would have a talk once he was bigger about the miscommunication and how they planned to spend more time with him. Until then, they had cupcakes to decorate.


	142. Watch me 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little off the script of the prompt/request/idea. Still hope it's ok though. ;-;

Roman was an age dreamer. It was an easy way to relax and de-stress after a long day. The only people who knew about it were Patton (Who was thrilled to watch him during this time) And Janus (Who Roman just didn’t succeed in lying too about it and who would sometimes help watch him.) Despite his stance that it was a completely ok thing to do and he should have to hide it, he still didn’t want to tell Virgil or Logan about it.He was tempted to tell Remus who it turned out regressed, but was afraid that there was too much of a difference between the two things for Remus to take him seriously. 

So he kept it a secret that just the three of them managed to keep successfully hidden for almost two whole years. That was up until Roman’s age dreaming started...changing. Sometimes it would be harder to snap out of that head space, he would feel more childish than normal and his mind was completely empty of any ‘big’ thoughts. 

He felt younger during these weird times. He was honestly getting concerned about it but didn’t want to bring it up with Janus or Patton just in case it was nothing. He didn’t want to bother Janus or worry Patton over nothing. Besides, he was sure it was just the extra stress of the latest batch of arguments that was causing it. As soon as the issue was resolved it would go back to normal and everything would be fine.

He woke up one morning after a ‘weird’ age dreaming evening,(One he managed on his own too worried that Patton, or more likely Janus, would notice was different than normal.) And found he was still...small. That was the only way to say it. He felt small and confused. Much smaller than his normal ten or so. He was Little. 

He lay in bed trying to think. This was weird. He’d been weird before. So it was ok? Or..No weird was bad. It made him feel bad. So he had to not be weird. But he didn’t know how. But why did he have to be not weird? This felt nice….simple..

“Are you doing ok?” Patton asked, peeking his head in. Roman was normal up hours before now and he was getting concerned. It wasn’t like him to stay in bed this long.

Roman sat up and frowned. Was he ok? Patton took this as a reason to move closer and sit on the edge of the bed next to Roman. He pulled him into a one armed hug. “What’s wrong Kiddo?” Patton was half sure that Roman was age dreaming. Something he accidentally did in the morning sometimes. 

“Weird.” Roman tapped his head. 

“Oh. Well just snap out of it.” Patton said relieved that the problem was just him being confused in his younger headspace. Roman looked more upset. So Patton started backpedaling. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to! It’s just if it’s a problem.”

“I can’t!” Roman said frustrated as eyes started looking watery. “It’s weird!” He said looking at Patton for help. 

Patton was at a loss. This was not what he was used to. Roman could switch between headspaces in the blink of an eye. He once said it was kind of like acting out a part you get really invested in but you were still you underneath that. This felt, as Roman said, weird. He didn’t just get STUCK in a headspace. “I know you can. Just focus on it.” 

Roman sniffed and nodded slowly. Focus….focus...focus… 

It took a couple minutes and Patton’s encouragement for him to get out of it. He was a bit shaky and tired afterwards and more than a little scared. That should NOT have happened! That was different and wrong and he never wanted that to happen again! 

“Thanks Pat. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been here.” Roman said grateful, a strained smile on his face.

Patton smiled, “Happy to help!” His smile dropped. “Are you ok?”

Roman laughed weakly. “Of course! Just...It’s nothing. I’m sure everything is fine now!” He would make sure that it was fine. Even if that meant not age dreaming anymore. Everything would be fine. 

“Well if you say so. You missed breakfast, do you want an early lunch?” Patton asked standing.

“Thank you but I’ll be fine waiting till the normal time.” Roman said his smile was more relaxed with the new conversion topic. 

Patton nodded, gave one more smile, and then he left. Roman watched him go before falling back onto his bed. He threw an arm over his eyes. Why was this happening to him?

\----

“Are you alright?” Janus asked leaning on the doorframe as he watched Roman scribble rapidly on a notepad. He had piles of notes in front of him, random ideas, plans, lists of things he needed for certain things to play out right. It was a mess and Roman himself wasn’t doing much better. He’s hair was sticking up in odd spikes from where he ran his hand through it and had dark circles under his eyes that were strong enough to compete with Virgil’s. 

Roman didn’t even look up to answer, “Fine. Thanks.” He said without thinking as he dug through a pile of loose papers in front of him before pulling out a page and making a note on it before dropping it on a separate pile. He had a highlighter tucked behind his ear. 

Janus sighed and walked in closer. “It’s been almost sixteen hours. You need a break.” Roman didn’t even blink at that, He hummed and stuck the pen in his mouth as he needed both hands to look through the drawers of the desk for a highlighter he was sure he just had. 

Janus frowned. “What are you looking for?” 

“Blue highlighter. I just...had...it.” Roman slowed down as Janus grabbed it from behind Roman’s ear and held it in front of him. “Oh.” He looked up at Janus, “Thanks.”

“I think it’s time for a break.” Janus said. Roman tensed at that. Normally this is when he would age dream. A long day, he needed to stop thinking about work and ideas. It was the perfect time for it…..and he was scared of it. He was scared of what would happen if he even stopped working. Of slowing down his thoughts. What if...THAT happened again? What if he couldn’t snap out of it next time?

“Just a few more minutes.” Roman muttered looking down at the notepad in front of him. Janus frowned at the tone in Roman’s voice. Normally he would be thrilled to stop for a while. So while Janus didn’t really like to do this he figured it was the best way to get Roman to stop and relax, “Do you want to age dream for a while? I could watch you.” He offered.

If Roman hadn’t been tense before (which he was) He was now. He almost snapped the pen he had just picked up. He took a shaky breath before forcing a smile and looking up at Janus, “No...thank you.” He said it so sharply that Janus took a step back.

Had...Janus done something? Was Roman mad at him? He liked when Janus watched him, he always got so excited about it. What changed? Roman blinked at the slightly hurt expression on Janus’ face and looked away. “Sorry. I’m just...tired.” 

That was true...but it wasn’t the whole truth. Janus hesitated before putting hand on Roman’s shoulder. “I’m here if you need to talk.” Roman took another shaky breath and Janus removed his hand. Roman didn’t look up as he nodded, he scribbled something else on his notepad. 

“Thank you.” Roman said as Janus turned to leave. “I’ll do that.” Lie. Janus’ frown deepened. He was going to talk to Patton about this, because now that he thought about it. He couldn’t quite remember the last time Roman had age dreamed around one of them.

\---

“I...don’t know.” Patton said slowly when Janus asked. “Three weeks?” Janus didn’t like that answer. “Not since…” Patton trailed off, He shook his head, “He’s probably just busy!” 

“Busy for three weeks?” Janus said, crossing his arms. “I don’t think he’s been sleeping either, or taking a break that’s longer than just grabbing food.” Janus was concerned and, (Not that he would admit it.) He missed watching Roman. Sure he watched Remus when he was regressed but this was different, more relaxing and less ‘DON’T DO THAT!’.

“You should see Logan when he’s on a roll.” Patton said lightly. He didn’t want to mention the way Roman seemed to have gotten stuck in his headspace. Roman clearly didn’t want to talk about it or bring it up again. 

“Roman is not Logan.” Janus said rubbing his temples, “He doesn’t DO this! Something is wrong!” 

Patton sighed, “Maybe someone else knows what’s going on with him.” He suggested hopeful. As much as he didn’t like thinking about it, it was likely that Roman got into an argument with one of the others and was avoiding them by overworking himself. Or it was with Logan and he was trying to prove something now.

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow morning. Get everyone together.” Janus said. Patton agreed. Maybe Roman was still worried that Logan or Virgil would not approve of his age dreaming. They were fine with Remus’ regression so it, (in Patton’s opinion) was a silly worry. If he needed to tell Virgil and Logan so that Roman would let himself relax again he would. He wouldn’t like it, but Roman could not keep going like this. 

Something had to change. 

\---

Roman woke up to knocking on his door. He sat up, he had fallen asleep at his desk and drooled on his notepad. “Uh oh.” He said firmly in a younger headspace. He froze. This was Bad! He was weird again! He wasn’t supposed to be weird!

He started crying. The door opened and then someone was hugging him. “Shhh. It’s ok.” Patton said, holding Roman. 

“Weird.” Roman whispered.

Patton winced. He was afraid of that. That Roman might be in a bad headspace to have this discussion with everyone. “You can snap out of it. Then it’ll be ok.”

“I...I.” Roman took a couple deep breaths. He could just pretend that it wasn’t weird. That would be ok? No one would know. He was good at pretending. “I’m...ok.” He said, his voice was off but Patton didn’t ask. He was sure that it was stress.

“Everyone is downstairs. We have something we need to talk about.” Patton said. “You feel up for that?” He asked in a tone that said they were doing it whether Roman wanted to or not. 

Roman nodded. He could do this. Just like a game. It was just a game of Pretend. That was his favorite game, and he was the best at it. He smiled at the thought and the worried look on Patton’s face vanished. Patton smiled back. Roman was pleased with himself. He was already doing so well!

Roman followed Patton downstairs to where everyone was waiting, standing or sitting around the common room. Even Remus was there. For some reason Roman was really happy that Remus was there too. He felt like he didn’t see him enough. Roman surprised everyone by sitting down next to Remus on the couch. Even Remus stared at him in slight shock from his spot on the couch arm.

Uh oh… Did he do it wrong? He just wanted to be next to his brother. Was he not supposed to do that? He frowned, this was harder than he thought.

Logan spoke first, “Alright. We’re all here.” He said looking at Patton before glancing at Roman again. “What did we need to talk about?” 

Virgil snorted, “It’s it obvious? Princy is being dramatic again.” Virgil said from his spot on the coffee table. Roman frowned, was he being dra- whatever that was? He didn’t know. 

“Am I?” he asked in a small voice. Everyone looked at him again and he hunched in on himself at the attention. This was harder than he thought. Really really hard. He didn’t like this game anymore.

“No.” Patton said, shooting Virgil a look. “I don’t think you meant to worry us-”

“Oh..I’m sorry.” Roman said looking down at his hands. It was quiet. Very very quiet. He didn’t want to look up. This was bad, he messed up and his eyes were wet and it was getting harder to breath. 

Remus knelt in front of him and took his hands, “Are you feeling Little right now buddy?” He gently.

“Roman regresses?” Virgil asked watching as Roman nodded slowly his eyes darting around at everyone in the room, he looked...scared of them.

“He’s an age dreamer.” Janus said. He paused. “He should be able to snap out of it though.” He frowned and Roman shifted away from him. Remus moved so he was sitting next to Roman on the couch and put an arm around him. 

“He couldn’t before.” Patton said shifting awkwardly.

“What? When did that happen?” Janus asked.

“Three weeks ago.” 

“Why didn’t you mention that last night?” Janus yelled, Roman whimpered before hiding his face in Remus’ chest. He started crying. All the anger drained out of Janus, it was clear that Roman wasn’t age dreaming. He was regressed and very very scared. Janus moved closer, “Roman I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He said gently.

He wasn’t sure how to comfort Roman. Remus was fearless when he was little. Roman it seemed was the opposite. Roman peeked out at Janus before his eyes darted around at everyone else in the room. He whimpered again and bolted off the couch and made it to the stairs before anyone could react. 

Logan blocked his escape and held his hands up, “It’s alright. Just-” Roman didn’t listen he ran into the kitchen. He looked around in a panic. He needed to hide. He had to! They were mad! And..and he was bad. It was weird and it was bad and that made him bad and they were angry!

Remus put a hand on Roman’s shoulder and pulled him into a hug. One that Roman struggled against before giving up and crying, holding onto Remus tightly. “Hey. It’s ok.”

“It’s weird!” Roman said, he didn’t like this! He didn’t like this at all!

“I know. It can be. But it can be fun too! I promise.” Remus said, taking Roman’s head in his hands so that Roman was looking at him. “I regress, remember? And I think it’s fun. It can be fun for you too.” 

Roman glanced behind Remus and saw everyone else looking at him. They were upset. Upset at him. He whimpered. Remus looked back and mouthed something that made them all look away before turning back to Roman. “It’s ok. Just focus on me.”

Roman shook his head, “It’s weird!” He said, his voice breaking. 

“It will be ok.” 

\---

Remus watched Roman for the next two hours while he was regressed. Roman stuck to him the whole time and hid behind him when one of the others got close, even Patton and Janus. Remus understood the ‘weird’ but in his younger state he didn’t connect that the others also understood the ‘weird’. He just knew that he didn’t like it when he was bigger and that meant it was bad.

“Are you feeling bigger again?” Remus asked as Roman stopped hiding behind him. Roman couldn’t meet his brother’s gaze. He took a couple deep breaths.

“Yes. I’m...yes.” He said refusing to look up at anyone. 

“Why didn’t you tell us you regress?” Patton asked. Roman winced. Patton hadn’t yelled, in fact he had spoken softly. Still it felt like yelling to Roman, he was yelling at himself internally. 

“I didn’t know that’s what it was.” He admitted. “I just thought something was….wrong.” Wrong, weird, bad. 

“So you tried to stop it by putting yourself under an unhealthy amount of stress?” Janus asked drily, he was relieved enough that Roman wasn’t regressed anymore that he was letting himself be mad about it. 

“Great move.” Virgil commented. Roman finally looked up. He opened his mouth to snap back at Virgil but...couldn’t. His shoulders slumped.

“I know.” Virgil blinked in surprise at Roman just agreeing with him like that. “I should have talked about it instead of trying to just….I don’t know. Get rid of it? It was new, and strange and-”

“Weird.” Patton said. Roman nodded. 

“Weird. I didn’t want anyone to know in case…” Roman took a breath. “In case it wasn’t normal. In case it wasn’t just age dreaming or…” He glanced at Remus, “Regression. I thought something was wrong and if I avoided it then it would go away and everything would be fine….It had to be fine.”

There was silence following this. Then Logan spoke up, “Well, that wasn’t the best way to handle the situation but that’s in the past.” His matter of fact tone helped Roman relax a little. “Now we move forward with this new information. Clearly, you’ve already chosen Remus as your caregiver if that’s alright with-”

“No.” Roman said. Everyone looked at him. Remus looked hurt, and Roman felt bad for saying no but he had to continue. “I’m not regressing again.” 

“You can’t just...not regress.” Janus said. Remus agreed. Along with Patton...and Logan...and Virgil...Everyone agreed that he had to do that again? Why did they get to decide that? Remus was the only other one that could understand what it was like but...No for Remus it was fun! For Roman it was terrifying!

“I am not doing that again. Clearly me age dreaming was a mistake that led to this so…” Roman crossed his arms. He didn’t want to do it again and he tuned everything out as they told him that it would happen again and he couldn’t avoid it. “Watch me.” He said before storming off.


	143. Knock knock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WILL REWRITE IN THE FUTURE.

Virgil hated it when someone knocked on his door. It made him jump every time and he was left feeling very very off balance. He expected it to get better the more it happened. It didn’t work like that. It just ended up scaring him more and he ended up dreading anyone knocking to the point he would freeze when he heard someone walking outside his room. 

Knock knock. Jump. small heart attack. Take several minutes to calm down. Repeat.

It got so bad that Patton knocked on the door and he burst out crying. He curled up in a ball on his bed and barely noticed Patton entering his room and sitting next to him on the bed trying to comfort him. 

“Don’t like it.” He said hiding his face in Patton’s chest.

“Don’t like what?” Patton asked as he held him.

“Knocking.” Virgil said. There was another knock and he started crying harder as he shook. 

Roman stuck his head in, “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. I just knocked on his door and he started crying.” Patton said.

“No knocking! No knocking!” Virgil said too alarmed to notice that he wasn’t in his normal headspace.

It took Roman and Patton an hour to calm him down. Roman summoned a sign that clearly instructed that no knocking take place and put it on Virgil’s door until they figured out why that was so upsetting for him. 

Virgil was slow to get back to normal. He kept trying to put things in his mouth for the first twenty minutes and wouldn’t let go of Patton for the next thirty. By the time he was back to normal he was exhausted and more than a little confused by the haziness that had overtaken his mind. 

“Sorry I flipped out on you guys.” Virgil said awkwardly, shifting away from Patton.

“Are you ok? You keep crying over the knocking.” Roman said bluntly, Virgil winced. 

“It’s stupid.” Virgil glowered at his wall. 

“It’s not stupid if it upsets you.” Patton said put a hand over Virgi’s. Virgil looked at him.

“I don’t like knocking...ok I freak out for no reason when I hear knocking.” Virgil said.

“How long has this been going on?” Roman asked.

“A couple months?” 

“Why didn’t you say something before?” Patton asked, “We’ve been scaring you for-”

“It’s not a big deal! I’ll learn how to handle it!” Virgil said cutting him off.

Roman raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. Virgil muttered under his breath a couple curses he hoped that Patton couldn’t hear before speaking at a louder volume. “Look. I’ll get over it.”

“Really? Because It looks like it’s getting worse.” Roman pointed out.

“It’s ok to ask for help kiddo.” Patton said gently. “We’re here for you.”

Virgil sighed, “Fine.” 

\---

No one knocked on his door anymore, instead he kept it a little open if he didn’t want to be disturbed and closed if he didn’t want to be bothered. If there was an emergency they were to just open the door not knock. That drastically reduced the amount of knocking he heard. But it also made the random knocks he heard outside his room worse. 

It got to the point of any random loud noise caused him to freak out and go all….hazy. He would hide or cry or freeze. 

“I think he’s...regressing.” Logan said after he saw first hand how Virgil reacted to knocking. “The knocking is acting as a negative trigger to cause regression.” 

“Age regression?” Roman asked. “You don’t act like this when you regress.” 

“Sometimes people negatively regress and it’s not as fun and relaxing as it normally is for me.” Logan said. He looked at Virgil, “But it will be ok. I promise. No more knocking.”

Virgil who was little at the moment and shaking as he clung to Roman’s side looked up at him. “No more?” He asked.

“No more.” Logan agreed hoping that would help calm him. 

Virgil took a deep breath. “Ok.” He said meekly. 

Logan smiled, “Do you want to watch something?” Virgil started chewing on his thumb nail and shook his head. “A snack maybe?” Virgil nodded. After a couple cookies and milk he dozed off. 

There really wasn’t anything they could do to stop any and all knocking noises but they could lessen them, and be there for Virgil when he regressed due to it.


	144. babyspace 1

Patton smiled as he watched Remus and Roman play together peacefully. They were regressed and it was the only time that they got along, so it was nice to see. If only he didn’t feel that weird hazy on the edge of his thoughts. The one that made it hard to think and made everything seem so...complicated. Even simple things that he could easily figure out were hard to understand when the haziness was there.

He shook his head and took a breath. He was in denial about what it was. He knew deep down that it was him trying to regress but he couldn’t! He had to take care of everyone, and he could not do that if he was...No. He cut the thought off. He was not a regresser. This was just fatigue from not sleeping well.

Never mind that his lack of sleep was mostly due to him being way too stressed. He needed to relax and he knew regressing was a great way to do that and it looked so fun! And-

He shook his head again. No. He was NOT going there. 

“Patton? Are you alright?” Logan asked. “You’ve been shaking your head a lot in the past few minutes.” 

Patton smiled, it looked only half as tired as he felt. “I’m fine. Just trying to stay awake.” That was true...somewhat.

“I can watch the twins if you need to go to bed early.” Logan offered. Patton’s knee jerk reaction was to say he could handle it. But he yawned before he could get the words out and he knew that by the look on Logan’s face he wasn’t going to take a no for an answer.

“Thanks.” He muttered standing. He missed the concerned look on Logan’s face as he focused on walking normally. For some reason he always tried to walk weird when he was close to regression- WHEN HE WAS TIRED! Nothing else! 

He was so close to he’s room when he tripped. He dropped both to the floor and into the hazy. He started crying and moved over so he was sitting against the wall. A door opened. “Pat?” Virgil asked.

Patton just kept crying. Words were hard! And thoughts! And he got hurted!

Virgil knelt down in front of him as a second door opened and Janus stepped into the hallway. “What’s going on?”

“I think he fell down.” Virgil said looking up at Janus. Patton rubbed his knee. “Hey, no it’s ok.”

No! It wasn’t! Everything was big and confusing. 

“Did you hurt your knee?” 

Patton nodded, “hurted.” 

Virgil and Janus shared a look. They knew that tone of voice from watching the twins when they were regressed. “Are you feeling little?” Janus asked, kneeling as well.

Patton didn’t understand. He could feel himself dropping further into little space. He put a thumb in his mouth. Janus summoned a paci and handed it to Virgil who removed the thumb from Patton’s mouth. 

“You’re really little huh?” Virgil asked lightly.

Patton just stared at him. Janus and Virgil shared another look before Janus got to his feet and picked Patton up. He took Patton to his room and set him on the bed. “How young do you think he is?” Janus asked Virgil.

“I don’t know. Younger than the twins by a lot.” Virgil said, trying to keep the worry out of his voice.

Patton didn’t understand what they were saying, it turned background noise as he drifted off to sleep. 

\---

He woke up in the middle of the night in a pair of soft pj’s and a paci in his mouth. He bolted upright and looked around. Janus was asleep in a chair next to his bed. He stirred as he heard the bed creak. “Pat?”

“I’m sorry.” Patton blurted out.

Janus stretched. “Don’t be, I wasn’t really sleeping anyway.” 

“No I mean...I shouldn’t have..” Patton didn’t want to say it out loud because then it made it real. Janus blinked the sleep from his eyes.

“Shouldn’t have what?” Janus asked.

“I’m not supposed to be little.” Patton muttered hugging his knees to his chest and wincing when he brushed against the bruise. 

Janus was wide awake now. “What? No. You don’t have to be sorry for something like that! Would you make Roman or Remus apol-” 

Patton knew where he was going with this. “They aren’t me! I’m not…” 

“Not what?” 

“I’m supposed to take care of everyone. I can’t do that if I’m…” Janus moved so he was sitting on the bed next to Patton. 

“Hey. No. It’s ok. We’ll be here to take care of you. We don’t mind honesty.” Janus said, pulling Patton into a one armed hug. “We don’t mind watching Remus or Roman.”

Patton frowned. “I’m not like them.” 

“You’re younger.” Janus said. “And that’s ok.” 

Patton sighed. Janus tightened his grip on him. “You deserve care too.” 

Patton took a breath. “Can...Can I try being little with you?” 

“Now?” Janus asked.

Patton nodded.

Janus smiled, “Of course.” 

\---

Bonus.

Patton sat at the kitchen table with Logan. “I guess coming out of little space is a lot like growing up.”

“I suppose.” Logan said absentmindedly.

“So I committed adultery this morning!” Patton said.

“That’s not what that means!”


	145. want Logan and twin trouble continued continued.

“I wan cuddles.” Remus cried reaching for Logan. He was regressed down to toddler size and had waddled into the common room dragging his blanket behind him. Logan reached down and picked him up, tucking the blanket around him. 

“Alright. It’s ok.” Logan said, swaying a little. “No need for tears.” After a few months of taking care of Remus he knew how to handle him fairly well. 

Remus’ crying died down and he curled up a hand holding tightly to Logan’s tie. He’s eyes drooping. He was tired enough that he needed sleep. Remus hadn’t been sleeping due to stress. What that stress was he wouldn’t say. He was just regressing more and more.

“Ro!” Remus said excitedly as Roman stepped into the room. Logan suppressed a sigh. There goes getting Remus down for a nap, and taking a nap himself.

“Is someone feeling little?” Roman asked walking over. 

“I got Lowgin.” Remus told him pulling slightly on the tie. 

“You do!” Roman said, He took in Logan’s tired appearance. “Do you want to come play with me for awhile?” 

“No!” Remus held on to Logan tighter. 

“It’s fine.” Logan said as Roman looked at him concerned. “I’ve got him.”

“You are wearing yourself out.” Roman warned. 

“I’m fine.” Logan said not meeting Roman’s eyes. “I just need to focus on Remus right now.” 

Roman didn’t say anything else about it, but watched worried as Logan kept yawning. 

\---

“You need to give Logan a break.” Roman blurted out. He covered his mouth as Remus looked up from his painting. 

“What do you mean?” Remus asked.

“Nothing. Forget I said that.” 

“No. tell me!” Remus said.

Roman sighed, “You’re regressing too much and it’s wearing out Logan. He needs space.” 

Remus stared off into the distance for a solid minute. “Oh….ok then!” He said brightly.

“That’s...that’s it?” Roman said surprised.

“Sure!” Remus shrugged, “He needs a break. I’m a lot to handle.” He laughed without any trace of self pity.

Roman relaxed. Maybe this would be ok.

\----

Logan frowned. It had been almost a week since he had seen Remus at all. He knocked on Remus’ door but got no answer so went to search for him elsewhere. He asked almost everyone until he got to Roman who froze at the news.

“You haven’t seen him at all?” Roman asked. 

“That is what I said.”

“Oh...oh no.” Roman said. He looked up at Logan, “Don’t be mad.”

“That is highly concerning.” Logan muttered.

“I may have told him you needed space.” Roman said.

“Why would you do that?” Logan asked, genuinely confused. 

“You were dead on your feet!” Roman said. He held a hand as Logan opened his mouth to speak, “Figure of speech.” 

“Well we should clarify to him that I am indeed fine and do not need space.” Logan said sharply.

Roman didn’t back down. “You do sometimes.”

“What?”

“You need to do better taking care of yourself.” Roman said, “I know you want to be there for Remus, but you need to be there for yourself too.” 

Logan reluctantly agreed. They found Remus and the whole situation was easily fixed. 

Right?


	146. Don't say fuck.

Emile looked up as Remy stepped into the apartment. He got everything set up! He had talked to Remy that he age regressed before but it took him time to be brave enough to regress around him. He was waiting for the right day for it, and today was that day! 

He was both excited and nervous for how Remy would react to him. “Hi!” He waved from the floor, the t.v was playing spongebob and he had a Steven Universe coloring book in front of him. 

“Hey. Nice onesie.” Remy commented. 

Emile smiled, slipping a bit more into little space. This was easier than he thought. “Yeah! It’s stitch!” 

Remy laughed, “I see that! What are you doing?” 

“Coloring!” Emile held up the coloring page that was almost done. Remy walked over to look it over. 

“I see. Having fun?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Emile said smiling as he set the page down and grabbed a crayon. 

Remy went to his room to get out of his work clothing and came back in a plain white t-shirt and sweatpants. His home outfit. He sat on the couch and started scrolling on his phone. 

Emile colored for a bit longer before looking up at Remy, “Do you want to color with me?” 

Remy shrugged and got down on the floor next to Emile, “Sure. What are we doing?” 

“Steven!” Emile said, handing him a page. 

“Ah!” Remy said giving Emile an odd look before shrugging again and grabbing a pink crayon. 

“Steven’s shirt is red.” Emile said.

“Oops. My bad.” 

“Here.” Emile handed him a red crayon.

“Thanks.” 

They colored for a while before Remy suddenly looked up at Emile. “Hold on.”

“What?” Emile asked wide eyed.

“You’re...what’s the word?....um...regressed!” Remy said snapping his fingers a couple times before pointing.

Emile nodded, “Ahhuh!” 

“Oh shi---ooot!” Remy said. “Ok. this is fine! Ummmm. What do I do?” 

Emile titled his head, “What’d you mean?” 

“Well… I mean you are...like a kid. So... I treat you like a kid? Was that it?” Remy asked.

Emile nodded coming out of his headspace a little as He watched Remy panic a bit. “It’s ok.” He said softly, “I can stop.” He tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

Remy looked at him, “What? No! You don’t have to do that!”

“Really?” Emile asked, a bit more hopeful than he should have.

“Yeah. I mean. I can take care of a kid...probably.” He muttered the last word.

Emile relaxed. This would be fine.

\---

“Ah...fuck!” Remy said after dropping the milk. 

Emile giggled. Remy spun around wide eyed, “Don’t repeat that!” 

“Fuck.” Emile said.

Remy sighed. “Oh well. I tried.”

“You made a mess.” Emile said as he kicked his legs, sitting at the table. 

“Yeah. I noticed.” Remy said drily.

Emile giggled again as Remy dramatically wiped up the milk and threw the broken carton away. “At least someone is having fun.” He said, hiding a smile.

“Ah huh!” Emile said, nodding. Remy smiled at that. 

“Well we’re out of milk now. And juice…” Remy said, he looked up at Emile, “How do you feel about coffee?” 

\---

Emile came out of his regression just before bedtime. “You back?” 

“Yup.” Emile answered to which Remy slumped over. 

“Thank fuck.” Remy sat up again and pointed at Emile, “I’m allowed to say that again!” 

Emile laughed, “Ok.” Then he frowned, “It wasn’t..that bad was it?”

“You were perf. I promise. and….I wouldn’t mind watching you again.” Remy confessed. “If you want.” 

Emile beamed at him. “Sure!”

Remy smiled back.


	147. creative drop 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Me: IS this any good? Are there plot holes? Do I even know what I'm doing anymore?  
> My brain: Did someone cry?  
> Me: Wha-what?  
> MY brain: Did someone cry?  
> Me: Ummm yes?  
> My brain: Then it's fine.   
> me: ;-;

Roman was moody and tired and just...done. He would go to Janus but he was hanging out with Logan and Janus was so thrilled that the others wanted him around that he couldn’t interrupt. He could wait to regress again. 

Two days passed before Janus had time again and by then Roman could clearly see that he was tired. “Early to bed?” Roman asked hoping Janus said no. 

Janus nodded, “But I can stay up if you need something.” He hadn’t been around as much and he knew that Roman most likely needed to regress soon.

Roman shook his head knowing a nonverbal lie was harder to catch. Janus crossed his arms, “Roman.” He said in that tone he used to let him know he was lying.

Roman hesitated, “Can I sleep in your room tonight?” He asked quietly on the edge of regressing.

“Of course little prince.” Janus said, both of them unaware that Virgil was listening.

\---

Roman sat on the edge of the bed in his pj’s, kicking his feet as he thought. “Are you alright? You're normally more upbeat.” Janus asked, sitting down next to him.

Roman hugged himself and shrugged. Janus frowned and hugged Roman, “Do you think I’m going to be upset by it?”

“...a little?” Roman whispered.

“I promise I won’t get upset.” Janus said.

Roman took a big breath and then, “Do you like being around everybody else more than me?” 

Janus didn’t expect that. He wasn’t sure what he expected but not that. “Of course not!” 

“...ok.” Roman said. 

Janus leaned over so he could see Roman’s face. “There’s something else, isn't there?”

Roman nodded. “I don’t want to lose you.” 

“You aren’t going to lose me Little prince.” Janus promised.

“What if everyone finds out and they think it’s weird and they don’t want to be around me and then you leave cuz I’m too weird?” 

Janus laughed softly, “That’s not going to happen. I’m sure that if someone found out, they would understand that this isn’t that weird.” 

He shifted so Roman was sitting in his lap. “Besides. I’m no going to leave because someone else doesn’t like it.” 

“Promise?” 

“Promise.” 

Roman relaxed. Janus smiled as he leaned against him and closed his eyes. Things would work out. 

\---

Roman was gone in the morning when he woke up. He was a bit disappointed that he didn’t get to take care of him longer but he probably had things he had to do. 

He got ready for the day and stepped out of his room to be met with...yelling.

“-Why did you hide if you didn’t think it was weird?” Virgil yelled.

Shit.

Janus all but ran to the kitchen where the shouting match was taking place. 

“Because I knew that you would think it was weird!” Roman yelled at him.

“Because it is!” 

“Roman, Virgil stop!” Patton said.

“No! He’s insulting me for coping!” Roman said.

“What do you need to cope with? Your life being too dramatic?” Virgil said.

“That’s enough.” Janus snapped. Roman immediately backed off. 

“If it wasn’t freaky why go to Deceit about it? Why not one of us?” Virgil asked as if that proved anything.

“Virgil.” Janus warned. Roman was close to breaking down. 

“Age regression is a coping method.” Logan said. “It’s not something to be made fun of.” 

“You should apologize.” Patton said firmly.

Virgil looked around at all of them before throwing his hands in the air. “Fine! Sorry or whatever.” He muttered.

Roman took a calming breath, “Accepted.” 

Virgil muttered something that Janus couldn’t hear, but it was clear Roman could. Roman teared up and bolted from the room pushing past Janus.

Janus shot Virgil a glare before following Roman. He caught him just before he got to his room. “Hey.”

Roman looked at him clearly little. “It’s ok.”

“No! It isn’t! They know! And I’m weird!” Roman cried hugging Janus.

“It’ll be ok.” Janus said soothingly. 

Roman stopped crying and hide his face in Janus’ shoulder. “Hey.” He heard Virgil behind them.

“Don’t you think you’ve done enough?” Janus snapped.

Virgil stood his ground, though he did look a little regretful. “Look. I’m...I didn’t mean to make you cry.” He said.

Roman looked up at him. “I’m not weird.” 

“Yes yo-” Virgil cut himself off. “It’s coping. And It’ll take a while to get used to the idea. I shouldn’t have yelled at you just because it’s weird to me. So..I’m sorry.”

Roman just nodded. Virgil left. 

Things were tense between them after that. Sometimes they would forget about the regression thing and be more friendly but in the end it would go back to tense silence and hesitate back and forth.

Patton and Logan adjusted surprisingly well to Roman’s regression and even offered to watch him, (Something Janus didn’t like) but were told by Roman that Janus had it covered, (He didn’t catch Janus’ smile at that.).

Remus didn’t care in all honesty.

Thomas was supportive if not confused. 

The only one that had a problem with it was Virgil.

“Why do you hate it that much?” Roman finally asked him.

Virgil looked away, “I don’t know. It just….makes me uncomfortable. Like something is wrong with you and...I can’t fix it.” 

Roman sighed, “This is healthy.”

“Is it really?” Virgil snapped, then took a breath. “Sorry I just…”

“You are worried and don’t know how to react to that.” Roman said. 

“I’m sorry. This is my problem to deal with and I’m taking it out on you.” Virgil said.

“As much as I don’t like the yelling,” Virgil winced. “I do appreciate the concern.” 

“I’ll work on it.” Virgil promised.

Roman smiled, “thank you.”


	148. baby virgil 1

Virgil was little. Very little. He was laying in bed dozing with a paci and his soft blanket. He woke up to a knock at the door. 

“Dinner’s ready.” Patton called in. Virgil babbled at hearing Patton’s voice. Patton opened the door slightly. “What was that? I couldn’t hear...you.” He blinked a couple times as he saw Virgil staring at him with a...was that a pacifier?

“Pabata.” Virgil babbled reaching his hands out. 

Patton walked over and Virgil grabbed his shirt puling himself up into a sitting position. He babbled more happily as Patton hugged him.

“Hi. was all this?” Patton asked booping the paci. 

Virgil didn’t understand what Patton was saying, he just liked that he was there. Virgil giggled and Patton, while confused, smiled at him. “Well if it makes you happy.”

“It’s dinner time now.” Patton informed the baby. 

Virgil made no move to let go of Patton so Patton after a moment of internal debating picked him up. Virgil giggled again and held onto Patton as Patton took him down for dinner. 

“What?” Roman asked looking up to see Patton carrying Virgil. 

Logan looked up and stared at a loss for words. 

“He’s baby.” Patton said as if that explained it. 

“Babee.” Virgil copied before giggling again. 

Roman shook his head and blinked a few times. “I...can see that. Why?”

“He appears to have age regressed.” Logan said figuring it out. 

Patton set Virgil down in a chair and Virgil whined as he moved to go get food. “It’s alright.” Patton said soothingly. “I’m not going far.” Virgil still teared up.

Roman was quick to move forward, “I’ll be here.” Virgil looked Roman over before hugging him. Roman smiled widely. Patton ruffled Virgil’s hair before moving to get food for the little. Virgil clung to Roman so much that he moved him onto his lap. Virgil immediately curled up against his chest, his hands playing with Roman’s sash.

“Ed!” Virgil said brightly looking up at Roman.

Roman fake gasped, “That is red! Good job!” 

Virgil giggled. “Ed. ed. Ed!” 

Roman was quick to start pointing out things and asking what color they were. He beamed at Virgil the whole time, praising him for every color he got right and corrected him when he got it wrong. (Which was rare.) He pointed to Logan, “Who’s that?”

“Ogin.” Virgil said.

“That’s right!” Roman said. “Do you want to go to logan?” 

“Roman that’s not-” Logan stopped as Virgil whined and reached for him. Logan looked conflicted as Roman moved Virgil over to him. 

Virgil grabbed Logan’s tie and started rubbing it on his cheek. “Of.” 

“It is soft.” Roman said, giving Logan a look. 

“Er...yes! Good...job.” Logan said, patting Virgil’s back. 

Patton set a plate of cut up food in front of them. “You just hold him while I feed him ok?” Patton asked, picking up the spoon. 

Logan sighed, “Fine.” He wasn’t really that upset about it judging by the small smile on his face. 

Dinner was a mess as Virgil kept moving around to look at things and had more interest in playing with Logan’s tie than eating. “We’re gonna have to get you out of that hoodie.” Patton said, picking Virgil up off of Logan.

Virgil whined and reached back. Logan for a split second thought that he was reaching back for him, but it was clear that he wanted his pacifier again. Logan was quick to cover his disappointment and hand the paci over. Virgil’s “fnkchu.” did make him feel better.

Patton replaced Virgil’s hoodie with an oversized sweater with a puppy on the front. “Pup!” Virgil said happily pointing at the doggo.

“Good job!” Patton said, ruffling Virgil’s hair. 

Virgil yawned and leaned against Patton’s chest. His eyes drooped as he batted at the sleeves of Patton’s cardigan. He slowly fell asleep. Unworried about what would happen when he woke up bigger.


	149. Chapter 149

Age regression was a touchy subject for Virgil and Roman. They both knew what it was. They both avoided it like the plague for the sole reason of, they can’t do their jobs if they aren’t at their best. So when they both ended up stressed out from working too hard for too long it’s not surprising they dropped.

“I don’t wanna!” Roman said stamping his foot as he glared at Janus. He was shrunk down to the size of a five year old matching his mental age.

“You need to get some sleep!” Janus said firmly blocking the doorway. Roman darted forward.

“Noooo!” Roman said ducking as Janus tried to grab him and he ran off. 

“Roman get back here!” Janus yelled spinning around.

“Pffft!” Roman stuck his tongue out as he ran faster. 

Roman ran past Virgil and Remus. Remus was holding a crying Virgil who was upset that everything was big and scary. Something he only got upset about when he regressed when really stressed out. 

“It’s ok. I’m here.” Remus said softly as he carried him to his bedroom. Roman heard Virgil’s crying and turned back. 

“What happen?” He asked looking at the toddler.

“He’s a bit scared.” Remus explained. 

“It’s ok.” Roman said to Virgil. He petted Virgil’s head carefully as Jansu caught up to him. Janus sighed knowing there was no way he was going to be able to pull Roman away from Virgil tonight. 

Virgil’s crying slowed down. “No like it.” 

“It’s ok.” Roman repeated. 

Remus put Virgil in bed and let Roman crawl in next to him. Both of them falling asleep quickly.

\---

In the morning they both agreed to not mention their slip up. Remus and Janus would have it though. “You need to let yourself regress more.” Janus said, crossing his arms.

Virgil and Roman looked at each other. “Errr how about no?” Virgil said.

“Yeah I don’t really like that idea.” Roman added with a shrug.

“You don’t have to like it.” Janus said firmly.

“Repression.” Remus sang from the corner. 

Roman huffed and Virgil rolled his eyes. “We don’t have time for that.” 

Janus frowned. “Yes. You do. Self care is-”

“Important or whatever.” Virgil said, waving him off. Janus scowled at him.

“Yes it is.” He said frosty. Roman winced at the tone. Even if he was big right now this was still his caregiver and hearing him angry was never fun. 

“What do we have to do to prove to you that we are fine like this?” Roman asked. Janus raised an eyebrow. 

“You really think you can do that? You’ve been working yourself to collapsing.” Janus said drily.

“Well… that’s only been a couple times and it’s never a bad thing to be…” Roman faltered. He glanced at Virgil for help.

“Vigilant.” Virgil offered. 

“What’s the real reason you don’t want to do this?” Janus asked tired of playing this game of cover up the problem and hope it goes away.

Virgil shifted uncomfortably. “I just do not have time to be helpless ok?” 

“Make time.” Remus said darkly.

“Easy for you! You cause problems not solve them!” Roman snapped.

Remus took a step back staring at both of them. “I think I like you better little.” He muttered.

Roman’s eyebrows shot up, “Is that what this is about?!?” 

“No!” Janus said. He shot Remus a glare, “This is about how ridiculous it is that you two refuse to cope in a healthy manner!” 

“It’s my job to be on the lookout. I can’t do that if I’m…” Virgil trailed off. 

Finally they were getting somewhere. “You think you can’t take time for yourself.” 

“It’s hard...to give up that control.” Roman said. “Let someone else take care of things instead of handling them ourselves.”

“Trust us. We can handle things for a little while.” Remus said, “I mean how hard can it be?” 

“Remus.” Janus warned.

“Fine fine. It’s difficult. But that just means you need a break even more.” Remus said.

“Ok.” Roman agreed.

\---

Roman sat coloring a picture with Janus as Virgil played blocks with Remus. It was calm and relaxing. 

“-and dat’s why I think I should have more cookies.” Roman said, finishing his argument. 

“Well put.” Janus said. “I suppose a reward is in order.” 

“Really?” Roman asked, shocked that it worked. Janus suppressed a laugh as he got up to grab a cookie from the kitchen, Roman right behind him bouncing excitedly.

Virgil looked up at the noise. “Cookie?” 

“You want a cookie too?” Remus asked, picking him up.

“Yah!” Virgil said excited.

Remus laughed, “Ok, we’ll get you a cookie too.” 

They might not be really comfortable with being little yet but in time they would be. For now however they had snacks waiting for them.


	150. baby virgil 2

Logan didn’t want to admit that he regressed due to Virgil’s regression. That holding Virgil made him feel little and big at the same time. Little in that he was much younger, but big because he was bigger than Virgil’s babyspace and he wanted to...protect him. 

Logan watched pushing down jealousy as Roman and Patton took care of his baby brothe- took care of Virgil. A feeling that vanished when Virgil reached for him from across the room. Logan walked over to him and picked him up. Virgil beamed babbling happily around his paci.

Logan was suddenly solidly in little space. Around ten, old enough that he knew how to do things for himself but still young enough that someone should keep an eye on him. 

“Logan? You feeling ok?” Patton asked.

“I’m fine.” He said a little off. Roman and Patton shared a concerned look. 

Logan sit Virgil down and sat down next to him. He looked at the ground as he spoke. “I may...be little… right now.” 

“You too?” Roman yelled causing Virgil to jump and Logan to wince. “Sorry I just..you aren’t acting like Virgil?”

Logan looked up, “Of course not. My regression seems to put me at an older age.” 

Patton was almost bouncing. “Ok Kiddo!”

Logan normally would have argued with that nickname but right now..he liked it. He smiled. “Thanks dad.” 

Patton was going to explode from happiness. “Yup!” He squeaked out.

Virgil crawled into Logan’s lap. Babbling and demanding cuddles. Something Logan was quick to give so that his little brother felt better. 

“Awww.” 

“So you can still help take care of Virgil then?” Roman asked.

“Of course I can!” Logan said protectively holding onto Virgil. “Right?” He asked Patton.

“Of course you can kiddo.” Patton said ruffling Logan’s hair. 

Logan beamed.

\---

It quickly became clear that Logan was very protective of Virgil to the point of being overbearing. At least it would be if Virgil didn’t adore the attention from him. They were inseparable when they were both regressed. Logan almost always regressed when Virgil was regressed and surprisingly the same happened to Virgil. 

“Babee!” Virgil said happily pointing at the baby on t.v. 

“Like you!” Logan said. 

“Are you recording this too?” Roman asked, holding up his phone. 

“Of course!” Patton said beaming as he watched his kiddos getting along.

Logan didn’t mind the attention from them as he focused on Virgil. Later he would be a bit embarrassed by his behavior while he is regressed but at the moment he was just happy that Virgil was happy.


	151. Few more minutes part three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I typed this one on my tablet so it's shorter than normal. : P There is also a brief mention of sfw pet regression. If you want to read more petre I have a separate book for that now.

Logan didn't want to go back but he knew he had to. He had to face this. So he took a deep breath and sunk out. He was immediately tackle hugged by Patton. 

"Are you ok?" Patton asked as he pulled back. Logan while flustered was alright.

"Fine." He said straightening his clothing from where Patton crumpled them.

He saw Janus watching him. He glared at him. "It is for the best." 

" Right. " Logan said shortly.

Roman out a hand on his shoulder. "We truly don't think any less of you for this. Even I use something....similar to that." 

" Same. " Virgil added.

Logan blinked in surprise. "You both age regress?"

" No. I age dream. " Roman said. "I have a bit more control than you do."

Logan turned to Virgil who muttered a quiet , "Pet regression ."

Logan nodded. " I see....thank you for telling me. "

"We shouldn't have pushed you to give up a secret." Virgil said.

"It's....fine." Logan said. It wasn't really fine but he didn't want Roma or Virgil to feel bad about opening up to him. 

"You're allowed to be upset." Patton said softly. 

Logan took another deep breath. "I'll be fine." In time.

\---

Roman and Virgil no longer hiding their coping methods helped Logan feel more at ease. After a few weeks of being around Roman when he age dreamed of Virgil pet regressed decided he was willing to try regressing with them.

"You don't have to do this." Virgil reminded him as he noticed Logan's worry spike.

"I want to." Logan said honestly.

So with that he let himself relaxed but by not into his younger headspace. "Ok I'm small now." He bluntly told them after about a half hour.

Roman snapped into his age dreaming head space and waved. " Hi! " 

"You want to draw?" Logan asked excited at the thought of playing with someone.

" Yeah! " Roman agreed bouncing a little as Patton watched making sure they didn't need help for anything. Virgil was curled up next to him in his cat headspace. He would most likely end up just taking a nap Instead of playing. 

Logan and Roman were content to draw for an hour before waiting a snack. Logan was a bit shocked that Patton had already made snacks for them and he didn't need to get them himself. Roman on the other hand was use to this kind of treatment and barely remembered to say a quick "thanks" before grabbing it and running off again.

\---

"Alright bedtime!" Patton said. Roman and Logan whined. 

" NOooo! " Roman said crossing his arms.

"Just a few more minutes?" Logan asked. Patton almost said no but then Logan added a soft. " Please? "

Patton sighed. "Oh alright." Logan hugged him before going back to playing. Patton smiled. A few more minutes wouldn't hurt.


	152. Secret till later.

Remus didn't mean to regress, it was just the Christmas music. Shopping for gifts. He was so careful to avoid anything that would cause him to drop but they passed the candy store through the mall and he just... Dropped.

"Remus you ok?" Logan asked. Roman looked over at his brother and paled as he saw that look in Remus' eyes. He was little....in public...around all their friends who didn't know anything about that.

"Fine." Remus muttered as he looked longingly at the candy store.

"Does anyone else want to get some candy?" Patton asked eyeing the candy store as well. 

Virgil nodded. "I could go for some sweets." 

"It's not even noon." Logan said.

"Get in the Christmas spirit lo." Virgil said patting his shoulder.

Logan sighed as he followed them into the store. Remus and Patton looked around at everything with wide eyes.

Roman was in charge of making sure they didn't go over board. 

Janus and Logan had little interest in any of it and we distracted by their phones. Virgil ended up unsupervised and got the most candy out of all of them.

___

"Toy store!" Remus pointed out.

"Toy store?" Patton repeated equally excited. At this point Roman was half sure Patton regressed as well. 

"We don't need to go in there." Janus said.

"Awwww." Remus and Patton whined.

"But...toys..." Remus said looking at Roman pleading. 

Patton giving him puppy eyes as well.

"Fine. I'll go with them to the toy store and meet you guys at food court." Roman said. Janus and Logan agreed and walked off. Roman looked at Virgil who stayed.

"I have a cousin I need to shop for." He said awkwardly. Roman got the feeling he just wanted to go in the toy store too.

They all walked in and Virgil took off by himself while Roman took Remus and Patton to the stuffed toys aisle.

"Can I get a stuffie?" Remus whispered tugging on Roman's sleeve. Roman smiled, Remus had been on his best behavior.

"Ok." He said making Remus beam before running off to look for one.

Patton also picked out a stuffie. A blue dog, that sang you are my sunshine when you pressed it's paw. Remus got a dinosaur. Virgil showed up at the checkout with a large bag that he wouldn't let them see what he got.

They met up at the food court where Janus and Logan already ordered food.

"I see you all had fun." Logan said with a smile at how excited they were.

"Christmas!" Remus said happily.

Everyone laughed at the excited tone. 

A few hours later they headed back to Janus' place to spent the night after their shopping day.

Remus and Patton started playing with their toys and snacking on the sweets they got.

Janus and Logan were looking through books they had picked up as Virgil sat on the couch watching Remus and Patton.

Roman sat down next to him. "Hey...um... Roman? I have a question...." Virgil trailed off.

"Yes?" Roman asked.

"Do...do you know what...age regression is?" Roman froze. 

He didn't expect Remus to speak up."I do that!"

Everyone got quiet. 

Virgil was the first to break the silence. "Me too." 

Everyone looked at Patton, who blinked before realizing what they were waiting for. "Oh no! I don't regress I just like kid things."

There was a brief pause before Janus sighed heavily. "You know you could have said that before I went shopping for you two. Now I have to go back." He said grumpy.

The tension vanished and everyone laughed. There were more questions about their regression and how to treat them during it. Roman made a note to watch Virgil closer next time as he got several stuffies and more candy than anyone should eat before it goes.


	153. Sleep little sleep.

Janus was tired, stressed and if he was being honest with himself a little depressed. But he could handle it  
This isn't the first time he's felt like this and he knows it will happen again.

Just ignore it and keep going. He tells himself as the fuzziness in his head increases. He was trying to focus on what Logan was saying he really was..he was just so damn tired! 

"You need to get some rest." Logan stated softly.

"No. I'm fine." He insisted. He knew how much Logan needed someone to listen to him. He had to be here that that. Logan already did so much for him.

"Do you need to be little for awhile first?" Logan asked putting a hand over Janus'.

Janus dropped quickly, he teared up. "But what bout you?" 

"What about me?" Logan asked.

"You were talking about stuff and ...and.." Janus sniffed. 

Logan smiled,"I know you like to listen to me but you are a little bit too small for that right now." 

Janus yawned before grumbling a small, "ok." 

Logan picked him up and carried him to his room. "Did you eat today?" He asked pulling out Janus' pajamas.

Janus frowned thinking. He thought he did...right? Or was that yesterday. He was hungry now so..."no... Sorry."

"It's alright. I'll get you something to eat while you get changed, ok?" 

Janus nodded yawning again.

Hopefully he could stay awake long enough to eat. The fact that he had forgotten to eat again was concerning. Clearly there was more going on than simple forgetfulness. 

Janus changed slowly. He didn't.really want to sleep....or eat. He just wanted to lay down and stare at the wall. It wasn't until Logan pulled him into a hug that he noticed that he was crying.

"It's ok." Logan said rocking him slightly.

"Icky." Janus sniffed. "An sad."

Logan was afraid of that. That Janus had gotten into a depressive spell again and worse hadn't told anyone. It hurt a.little that Janus still didn't trust him enough to talk to him about this when he wasn't little. But it hurt worse to know that he was suffering.

"Do you know why?" Logan asked. Janus shook his head.

Logan sighed silently and grabbed the plate of microwave pasta for him to eat. Janus wrinkled his nose at the sight of food. Logan's stomach sunk. This was worse than he thought.

It took a lot of bargaining before Janus ate a small half of the pasta and drank his juice. "Can I sleep now?"

"Do you want me to stay with you?" Logan asked.

"Please?" Janus said.

Logan nodded and tucked Janus in. This wasn't going to go away, he was always going to struggle but as long as Logan had a say. He was going to help him through it in any way he could.


	154. accident 2

Janus woke up little and being held. It was nice, he almost forgot that he was wearing a diaper and why. He whimpered waking Patton up.

"Hey what's wrong?" He asked gently rubbing Janus' back.

Janus didn't have the words to explain why he felt bad. Instead he pointed to the diaper. 

"Oh. Do you need a change? Or maybe you have to go?" Patton asked.

He didn't need a change thankfully. He wanted the embarrassing item removed! He managed to get a small, "off." 

Patton nodded, "shh. It's ok baby. We'll take that off if you think you don't need it anymore. Ok?" 

Janus nodded his head grateful. He did not want to be seen as helpless. Being regressed was bad enough but wearing a diaper too? Virgil was going to hate him more.

Or at least have something else to mock him about. 

Patton got him changed into his freshly washed clothing. "Ready for some breakfast?" Janus nodded and took Patton's hand.

It wasn't untill they were in the kitchen that he noticed he had to go. It wouldn't hurt for him to go the the bathroom while Patton cooked....right? 

Now which door was for the bathroom..

\---

Roman was awake early as he felt very guilty for upsetting Janus so much he pushed into Little space. He knew how hard it was to do that to Virgil so he must have really upset Janus.

He was going to have to apologise. Try to make it up to the little for his unsavoury behavior. 

He didn't expect Janus to open his door. Janus froze it was clear this was not where he had thought he would be. He turned to leave.

"Wait." Roman was quick to caught him before he could run off. Janus looked at him a little frightened clearly still little. "I'm so sorry I scared you."

Janus shifted trying to escape Roman's grip. "Go." 

Roman didn't let go. "I need to make it up to you!" 

Janus wasn't paying attention. He was looked out into the hallway and shifting from foot to foot. 

Roman needed his attention for this to work. "Janus." He said a little louder than needed.

Janus jumped and looked at Roman before blinking rapidly. He started crying. "S-sorry." He whispered.

Roman felt even worse he had messed up again and.... 

Did Janus just...wet himself? 

\---

Patton turned around to ask Janus what he wanted to drink and his stomach dropped when he wasn't there.

He took off looking for him and heard crying as he was halfway up the stairs. 

Then Roman's voice. "D-don't cry. It's ok! Accidents happen." Patton saw Janus and Roman standing in Roman's doorway. Janus crying as his pants were wet again.

"Oh honey." Patton said as Janus saw and reached for him. Roman let go of him and Janus hid his face in Patton's chest as he cried.

"Scaring.....Roman." Janus explained.

Roman looked heartbroken. "I didn't mean to-" 

"We'll talk about it later." Patton said cutting him off. "Now, I'm going to get him cleaned up. Can you take over breakfast?" Roman nodded and took off.

Patton made a second bath for Janus who didn't stop crying. He just kept apologizing. 

"It's ok. No one is mad at you." Patton promised.

Janus started calming down. He ending up wearing a pair of puppy pajamas Patton had. He held Patton's hand and wouldn't let go as he.was lead downstairs for breakfast.

Roman dished him up a plate of oatmeal with berries and a glass of milk with a straw. Janus eyed him half hidden behind Patton. 

Roman smiled in what he hoped was reassuring before leaving so Janus could eat in peace. After everything that happened that morning Janus wasn't that hungry and only ate a few bites.

Patton watched concerned. He squeezed Janus' hand. "Do you want to watch some t.v?" 

Janus nodded slowly.

\---

As Virgil watched Janus curl up next to Patton thumb in his mouth eyes glued to the t.v screen there was no more doubt in his mind about Janus' regression.

"Morning." He said making his presence known.

Janus whimpered and ducked his head. Patton gave Virgil a sad smile, " He's had a...rough morning." 

Virgil nodded. "Mind if I join you?" 

"Are you feeling little too?" Janus' head shot up at that, eyes wide. Virgil little too?!? 

"A bit." Virgil said walking over and sitting on the other side of Patton.

Janus started at him.

"Janus are you ok with me telling Virgil about what happened this morning?" Patton asked.

Janus shook his head. Patton gave him a one armed hug. "Ok then. Is it alright if we tell Logan you regress? I think he's already figured it out but,-" patton was cut off by a small. "Yes."

They all settled down to watch t.v. 

\---

Janus was very embarrassed by the fact he.had not one but two accidents. Patton reassured it was fine and with permission from Virgil told him that was a problem the anxious trait had too.

Roman couldn't apologise enough, even though janus just wanted to forget the whole. 

Logan wasn't surprised at all by Janus' regression and even offered to watch him occasionally. An offer Janus planned on taking up.


	155. Not so nice part one.

Janus was about five as he knocked on the door to Remy's room. Sleep opened the door and grinned before picking Janus up. "Hey kid. What are you up to?" He asked.

Janus hugged Remy's neck, "can't sleep." 

"Again?" Remy asked stepping back into his room and closing the door. This was the forth time this week that Janus couldn't sleep.

He set the snake side on his bed and huffed,"Well we'll just have to fix that won't we?" He asked lightly.

Janus beamed before yawning. He always felt safer knowing Remy was watching over him. HE wouldn't hurt him or yell at him. He was nice unlike....

Remy pulled down the covers and motioned for Janus to crawl into bed, Remy laying down next to him so that Janus could cuddle up to him if he so chooses to. 

As always he did. Curling up against Remy's chest letting the older's heartbeat lull him into a gentle rest. Remy lay awake worried about his snakeling.

\----

Emile watched as Janus jumped at Roman's voice from downstairs. He's smile vanishing and he went still and quiet. He looked terrified.

Emile frowned as Janus crawled over and hid behind him just in time for the door to open revealing Roman. "Emile! How are you?" 

"Fine..." Emile said distracted by Janus' distressed whimpered from behind him. Roman didn't notice.

"I was wondering if I could bounce some ideas off you?" Roman asked summoning a notebook and flipping it open.

"Err... I'm a bit busy at the moment. How about later?" He asked.

Roman paused. "Oh. No problem! What are you up to?" 

Emile was about to reply when Roman noticed Janus behind him and his face darkened. "What is he doing here?" 

"None of your business." Emile said coldly as Janus started crying and shaking under Roman's stare.

"You know he's just trying to trick you into caring about him right? He's lying. He doesn't really regress." Roman said bluntly.

Emile was stunned by the harshness before replying, "I think I would know more about that than you."

Roman took a step back. "Fine." Roman stormed from the room. 

Emile pulled Janus into his lap trying to calm his crying. "It's ok."

"No. I'm bad!" Janus cried.

Emile's stomach sunk. "You are NOT bad. I don't care what Roman told you." 

Janus looked down. Emile watched him for a minute before continuing. "It's not just Roman is it?" 

Janus shook his head. Emile hugged him. He was going to have a long talk to them about this.


	156. First snow.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drabble??? Maybe??? (Shrug)

It was hot. If course It was, it was florida. But that still didn't stop Patton from asking for snow and getting dejected when Logan said there wouldn't be any.

He looked so heartbroken that Roman broke the rule about no weather in the common rooms. "SNOW!" Patton yelled jumping up and down.

"Roman." Logan said only half angry about it seeing Patton so happy.

"Just this once." Roman promised. Logan sighed before reluctantly agreeing to the snow day.

It was a good thing that it was magic snow so it wasn't extremely cold as Patton had made a pile in the corner of the room and buried himself in it giggling.

"Is it safe to eat?" Logan asked watching Patton catch snowflakes, that were falling from the ceiling, on his tongue. 

"Of course!....oh I should have added cookie flavor!" Roman lamented the missed opportunity.

"Or hot chocolate." Logan suggest. "Since it a common treat after being out in the snow." 

Roman blinked at him. "Maybe next time."

"Yeah... Wait no this is a one time-" Logan was cut off as Patton threw a snowball at him. 

Roman laughed before getting a face full of snow himself. "Oh you're on!" He yelled scooping up some snow.

Patton squeaked before giggling as he ran around dodging snowballs and toss some back. 

They ended up all sitting in a snow fort together drinking hot chocolate after their snowball fight. Patton looked up at them beaming. "Thanks chu!" 

"Of course!" Roman said.

Logan didn't look at Roman as he said, "Maybe we can do this again.....sometime."

Roman smiled.


	157. Watch me 2

Roman was extremely stubborn about his new found regression, in that someone so much as mentioned he looked like he needed a break would get him on the defensive. Two weeks of non stop avoidance by any means possible at left him and the others frazzled. He NEEDED a break and he was getting one, one way or the other.

Patton was the first to try getting him to stop. Bribing him into helping cook before only letting him to the simplest tasks. Praising him for his help and a job well done. It almost worked untill Roman started slipping and he bolted from the room. 

Next was Janus, he started by just talking to Roman about his ideas and letting him bounce them off him. Then slowly, over the course of an hour shifted his tone to that of his caregiver voice. Sprinkling in gaps and wide eyes when Roman said something dramatic. Roman giggled before slapping a hand over his mouth and becoming guarded.

Virgil flat out told him to regress and they ended up arguing about it for three hours. Logan joining in a one point only for Roman to give up trying to get his point across and left Virgil and Logan both of whom were very frustrated.

Lastly was Remus who was surprisingly the smartest about it. He just showed up regressed and made Roman play with him. Acting childish and encouraging Roman to act the same. Roman ended up age dreaming and getting some relaxation before Remus slipped out of his headspace and took Roman with him by accident.

\---

Roman knew that they just wanted to help but he couldn't get them to understand the .. terror he felt when he regressed. The loss of control and self that caused him to fear everything. It was worse than being in Virgil's room for hours. 

"I just think he needs to stop fighting it!" He paused at the top of the stairs just out of sight and listened to the conversation taking place below him.

"I know Kiddo but we've tried everything." Patton said gently.

"We may have to let him regress on his own. It's bound to happen again." Logan said in an unsure tone.

"And when he hides, terrified of being alone at that time and that just makes him run from it more?" Janus asked drily.

A brief silence. "My idea worked! Why not just do that again?" Remus asked.

"No offense but it only worked halfway." Virgil said. Roman could almost see the way Virgil shifted in his seat and gave Remus an unimpressed look.

"Better than telling at him for hours." Janus snarked.

"What he said." Remus said loudly.

"Well what should we have done? Babied him in such a clear manner that he runs away?" Logan asked.

"He still ran away from you!" Remus said in a sing song voice.

"Stop fighting." Patton said firmly. "We all failed."

"But I failed the least." Remus pointed out. 

"Oh shut up." Virgil shot at him.

"Why don't you make me?" 

Roman felt awful. They were fighting over how best to help him. What kind of hero let's his friends fight like this? What kind of hero runs from the problem like a coward?

Roman took a deep breath and walked down the stairs. He glanced over and saw Remus ready to throw a punch before seeing him and freezing. They all froze and stared at him. 

"How much if that did you hear?" Patton asked weakly.

"Enough to know I've been putting you all through more than I should have." Roman said as he looked around at them. "Look...I know you want to help. That your intentions are....good. But you have to understand that I do not want this!"

"It's healthy for you." Remus said quickly.

"I know it is.... But it is also... unpleasant." He took a breath. "I don't want this. So maybe the solution isn't be to trick me,"guilty looks at that. " But to help me find a way to not do it..... Or even." He didn't want to suggest it but if it got them to stop fighting. "Ease me into it. Ok?"

"That is... agreeable." Logan said slightly awkward.

There were nods of agreement all around. Roman took another breath and let himself relax a bit. He didn't like it, but couldn't keep running from. It if it was hurting his friends. So he had to try. 

He was going to concur this. One way or the other. He looked around the room. Now, who to try watching him first?

\---

He started with Logan and virgil. Virgil so that he could help control Roman's fear and Logan so he could explain the fears away. At least that's how Roman thought it would work out. Instead his fear just made Virgil freak out and Logan used them waaaay to complicated for an around four year old to understand. In other words it was a bust.

Next Patton and Janus, both caregivers. They had practice with him before it should have worked right? It did....mostly. untill Roman broke a glass and Patton had to yell at him to stay back so he wouldn't get hurt. After that Roman wouldn't go bear either of them untill he wàs bigger and the experience made him want to never do again even more.

Lastly was Remus who really really tried. But even with everything going as smoothly as possible, Roman still found the experience as terrifying.

"We've tried everything." Roman groaned. "And I'm still..."

"Hey. It's ok. We will figure this out." Patton assured him. 

"There is one person we haven't tried yet." Virgil said after a long pause.


	158. Not so nice part two.

Emile walked in just as Janus started crying. Patton was glaring at him. "Stop it."

Emile was shocked before rushing over to the clearly regressed side. "What are you doing?" He picked up Janus and held him surprising Patton.

"He's lying again." Patton said.

"No he isn't." Emile said flatly. Janus shook slightly as he hide his face in Emile's shoulder.

"What's going on?" Remy asked walking in. He saw Janus upset and walked over and patted his back. "Hey it's ok now."

Patton stared, "You two can't be serious. You have to know he's lying to you."

"Why would he do that?" Remy asked. Janus whimpered. Remy turned his attention back towards Janus. "What's happened kid?" He asked wanting the story from him.

"Paten say I'm bad." Janus whispered.

"Why did he do that?" Remy asked looking at Emile.

"They think he doesn't really regress." Emile explained.

Patton crossed his arms unsure. Roman and Virgil told him that Janus didn't regress and that he was lying about it. He wanted to believe them.

Remy glared at Patton. "I see." He said coldly. "Come on. We should go." He said leading Emile with Janus from the room, leaving Patton feeling awful.

\---

"Are you sure Janus is lying?" Patton said out of the blue at dinner.

Everyone stopped. "Well of course he is. He is deceit." Was Roman's answer.

"You can't trust him." Virgil said.

Logan paused, "While age regression does seem to be what he is doing. Thomas doesn't age regress. It doesn't make sense for Janus to do so." 

Patton poked at his food. "I know but... Emile-" he was cut off by Roman.

"He is clearly not thinking this through." Roman snapped.

"Remy thought he wasn't lying either." Patton said. There was another pause after that.

"Janus is smart." Logan said slowly.

"He tricks people." Virgil said stubbornly.

Patton frowned, "Right....ok."

\---

Patton stepped into the room with Emile and Janus. Janus saw him and whimpered hiding behind Emile. Guilt hit Patton like a baseball bat to the gut. 

"I'm sorry...Janus." patton said making the glare Emile had aimed at him vanish. Patton knelt down on the ground so he was closer to Janus' level. "I thought that you were lying and I didn't even think that maybe you weren't. That wasn't fair to you. I'm sorry."

Janus stared at Patton. "So...I'm not bad?" He asked quietly.

"NO You aren't." Emile and Patton said at the same time.

Janus nodded slowly. He stared at Patton thinking. "So...you don't hate me?" He asked weakly. 

Patton felt worse, he thought that they hated him? Now thinking back of course it made sense that he would think that. They hadn't been....nice.

"No. I don't hate you." Patton said. 

Emile smiled at him as Janus hugged Patton. Patton hug the kiddo back. 

Now he just had to convince the others that he wasn't faking it.


	159. Watch me 3

Roman didn't like this idea. Sure Thomas knew about his age regression, but he seen hadn't seen it before. What if this changed how he saw him? To say he was nervous was an understatement. He was borderline panicking. Pacing his room as he waited to be summoned. 

Remus was going to be there to as he did the best watching him, but he was only there in case Thomas needed help. He was going to be in the background. 

Roman felt the tug and rose up, not sure if he was glad that only Thomas and Remus were there or not. He was terrified and he wasn't even regressed yet. Maybe this is a bad idea. It would be easier if he just didn't regress right?

"Relax. I can hear you overthinking." Remus said so calmly that he shocked Thomas. Despite having a long conversation about what to do and what not to do around Roman while regressed, Remus was more out there. 

Roman took a shaky breath. He looked at Thomas slightly afraid, or more than slightly, of what he was going to say. Unlike Remus, Roman's world hanged on Thomas's option. 

"It's ok Roman. We can handle this together ok?" Thomas said. Trying very very hard not to make it worse.

"Right. Ok... How do we want to do this?" Roman asked trying to relax.

"Let's just try and calm down. If you regress great if not that's ok too." Thomas suggested.

Roman nodded and sat down on the couch. Thomas and Remus joined him. "Disney?" Thomas asked grabbing the remote.

"Always." Roman said relaxing a bit more.

\----

Roman ended up regressing and for once wasn't scared. Thomas was fantastic had handling him. It took a few soft words to get Roman to stop panicking. Roman was very clingy buy at the same time excited. Going from cuddles to bouncing and back.

Remus didn't need to take care of him as much as they had thought. He watched from the corner with a lopsided grin on his face.

"Coloring!" Roman yelled summoning supplies. Thomas ruffled Roman's hair. 

"That's a great idea." He said causing Roman to beam. Roman hummed to himself as he colored. He was relaxed. Comfortable. 

Safe.

Thomas made him feel safe. He didn't worry about anything hurting him or getting stuck in his headspace. Thomas could handle everything, he trusted him. 

"Thomas?" Roman asked looking up from his drawing.

"Yeah kid?" Thomas asked.

Roman hugged him, "Thank you." 

Thomas smiled. "Of course." 

Roman hummed happily. Maybe regressing was something he could do....sometimes.


	160. Rawr

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I saw a load of dino agere stuff on tumbler and got inspired. If you have any items or like interests a kid would have I would love to hear them!

Remus liked dinosaurs. He had a lot of little gear decorated with cartoon dinosaurs. Sippy cups with dino shaped handles. Pj's with dino patterns, a t-rex onesie, little dino paci. 

Roman enjoyed spoiling him with dino decorated. Stuff and dino toys. Stuffies that raored when he hugged them. Tiny robot dinos that ran around the floor. Anything and everything he could think of. 

Remus was always thrilled with the presents from his brother and caregiver. He was constantly making room for more stuff. His bed a pile of toys that he buried himself in to sleep.

"Someone is feeling little huh?" Roman asked as Remus wandered into his room wearing his T-rex onesie, holding his stuffed Triceratops with his little dino paci in his mouth.

"Two!" He said holding up two fingers before crawling into Roman's bed and burrowing into the mound of Pillows.

"And sleepy I see." Roman said laughing at little at Remus' antics. 

Remus giggled as he peeked out at him. Roman kept that many pillows just because Remus liked to 'hide' in them. Though the fact that he often shouted out that he was there made his hiding ineffective. 

"Do you want to watch land before time while you fall asleep?" Roman asked turning in the wall t.v.

"Hahuh!" Remus agreed getting settled.

Roman turned on the movie and got back to work, grinding to himself as Remus babbled to pointy( his stuffed Triceratops) about the characters. The babbling slowly dying down untill Remus fell asleep. 

Roman turned down the volume but didn't turn it off in case Remus wasn't completely out yet. Knowing a hissy fit would happen if he woke up to it being off. 

He made sure Remus was covered by pillows or blankets and removed a pillow from his face before stepping back. He would be asleep for another few hours with how tried he was. Then he would either wake up still regressed or not. If he wasn't, he was wander off on his own again. If he was Roman would make him supper and play with him until bedtime. 

For now, Roman kept working quietly. Careful not to wake the little dinosaur.


	161. Spiderling

Virgil was sitting in the common room with a stuffed spider Remus had enchanted that would move around on its own. He called it mister leggy.

mister leggy was purple and black with an hourglass on his back like a black widow. He could crawl up walls and make yawn webs. Virgil adored him. It was the best present he had ever gotten and spent almost all of his time regressed playing with him.

Patton however was not fond of Mister leggy. He left the room everytime Mister leggy was there and yelled whenever he saw him. Virgil wanted Patton to be friends with Mister leggy too.

So he made a plan.

All he had to do was show Patton that mister leggy was a nice spider just like him! So he went to Patton's room and knocked. When Patton answered the door he stepped in letting Mister leggy down from his back.

"Ahhh! Why is that here?" Patton yelled pressing himself up against the wall as far from Virgil and Mister leggy as he could get.

"He's friend. I want him be friends with you too!" Virgil explained excited.

"I hate spiders kiddo." Patton said trying to explain why he couldn't be friends with.... Mister leggy.

Virgil froze, "All spiders?" He asked quietly.

"Yes!" Patton said. "They're creep and gross and WHY IS IT GETTING CLOSER?!?" 

Virgil snatched up Mister leggy tears in his eyes as he ran from the room. Patton hated spiders. Patton hated HIM. 

He hid in the back of his closet. It was glad an hour before Remus found him. 

"I got scared. Why did you ran off Spiderling?" Remus asked as Virgil crawled into his lap.

"Patton hated me." Virgil said before sobbing hugging Mister leggy.

"Patton doesn't hate you." Remus said confused.

"Yes! He say hated all spiders!" Virgil yelled. 

Oh....oh no. Remus knew Patton didn't know that Virgil's animal trait was a spider. And most likely didn't think when he said that if Mister leggy was there. Everyone knew that Patton was scared of spiders, even stuffed ones.

Still Remus was going to have a talk with Patton.

\---

Virgil was still regressed a half hour later when Patton came into his room with Remus. He shuddered when he saw Mister leggy but his need to comfort Virgil overrode that.

"Virge I am so sorry that I made you think I hated you. I don't. I love you so much kiddo. And I... wasn't thinking about...that." he said kneeling down trying to ignore the stuffies spider in Virgil's arms.

Virgil sniffed. "You love me?" 

"I do." Patton said nodding. Virgil opened his arms for a hug, one hand still holding the spider. Patton had to force himself forward and shudder again when he felt the spider clung to his back. Walking across it.

He hugged Virgil tighter. What mattered right now was getting Virgil happy again. Letting him know he was loved. Even if that meant he had to have a spider on his back.

Patton pulled back and smiled even thought spider was STILL ON HIS BACK! 

"Are you feeling better?" Patton asked.

"Can you hug Mister leggy too? And say sorry?" Virgil asked.

"I don't..." Patton cut himself off. Just hug the damn spider! "Ok." Virgil beamed. 

Patton gave the spider a brief hug, glad that it wasn't on his back anymore and apologized. Virgil smiled. "So now you're both friends!" He announced.

"Ok kiddo." Patton said. He was going to have to get use to having the spider around. But if it made Virgil happy, how upset could he really be about it?


	162. Hiss

Janus regressed, and after he was accepted was open about it. The more he hung around the more likely it was that he would regress around them so he told them. To his surprise they took it very well. It turned out that Virgil regressed as well and they took care of him. So taking care of Janus too wouldn't be a problem....right?

Janus whimpered as Virgil hissed at him. Both regressed and Virgil clearly not at all happy to share his caregivers. Patton had picked Janus up and Virgil who had been playing on the floor perfectly fine immediately glared at Janus and started hissing.

Janus shook off the fear and hissed back. Which caused Virgil to hiss again. Then Janus... Virgil..

"Ok that is enough!" Patton said firmly. 

"But-" Virgil said pointing at Janus.

"You starteded it!" Janus cried.

"Virgil Janus be nice." Patton said. "Or you're both getting time outs." 

Virgil huffed and crossed his arms. This wasn't fair. In his child mind Janus was stealing his caregiver and he had every right to be mad about it. 

Janus being a younger age than Virgil was upset that Virgil was so clearly mad at him. He didn't want Virgil to be mad. He wanted to play with him. But he wouldn't do that if he was mad.

Patton set Janus down to go do something. Giving them both a stern warning to play nice before he left. Janus crawled over to Virgil.

"Hi." Janus said.

Virgil glared at him. Janus shrunk in on himself. "Sorry." He muttered. Virgil's glare lightened.

"They are mine!" He said angrily. "They don't want you!" 

"Oh...." Janus said confused and a bit hurt. They didn't like him? But they were so nice?

"Why don't you just go away!" Virgil snapped pushing Janus over. 

Janus stared in shock before bursting out crying running off. That snapped Virgil out of his headspace.

Shit what did he just do?

He ran after Janus and caught just before he got to his room. "Janus wait I'm sorry."

Janus turned around and hissed at him. "Mean!"

"I know I was mean. I'm sorry. I was upset and I took it out on you." Virgil explained hoping that Janus was old enough to still understand him.

Janus stared at him. "Ok."he muttered.

"Can I give you a hug?" Virgil asked.

Janus gave a small nod. He leaned into the hug. "Thankssss." 

Virgil laughed a little, "Ok. Do you want to go play?" 

"You play too?" Janus asked hopeful.

"Yeah. I'll play too." Virgil said much to Janus' delight. He was going to have to work on not being to selfish with their caregivers.


	163. Honeybee.

Janus loved insects when he was little. They were so cool and he adored when Logan would tell him cool fact about them and help him caught them. He even got a bug themed nickname for when he was little!

So when Logan gave him his first paci, one that had Honeybee oñ it he was excited! Untill he realized.... He didn't like pacis. 

They were... Ok. But he was five, far too old for pacis. It was still pretty and it had his nickname on it so he wore it around on a paci clip but he never used it. 

So when he got another paci, this one decorated with a grasshopper he was... Less than thrilled. He still liked it because bug! But....he didn't ever use it. It just sat in the top drawer of his nightstand. 

Then he got another one...and another one...another one. Untill he had a full dozen in his drawer. What was he suppose to do with them all? He couldn't get rid of them, but he didn't use them and that made him feel bad.

"What's wrong honeybee?" Logan asked catching Janus frowning at the pacis laid out on his bed in front of him. Himself sitting cross-legged on the head of his bed. 

He shrugged. "Just thinkin." He said.

Logan come over to the bed and looked over the pacis. "Having trouble choosing one?" 

Janus shook his head. He hesitated before speaking. "I don't like them." 

Logan looked at him confused. "You always wear one around." He pointed out.

"I like how they look but I don't like them... Like in my mouth." He confessed.

Logan was not in the least bit surprised by this. "I know. I thought you just liked how they look."

Janus smiled knowing that Logan wasn't mad at him for not liking to use the pacis. "I do! But ... I wanna use dem but don't know how."

Logan thought for a minute. "Why not use them on your stuffies?" 

Janus' eyes widened. "Stuffies like pacis?" He asked in a whisper ad if this was a secret.

Logan nodded and whispered back, "They do! They can use all the pacis that you don't want to wear." He told him.

Janus bounced on the bed, "YES!" He set about matching up pacis with stuffies. Logan helping him tie the pacis on so they didn't fall off.

After that Janus loved getting pacis again. He loved looking at them and most of all loved giving them to his stuffies and making them happy with the things he didn't want to use. 

\----

Janus was carrying around a stuffed bear with a matching yellow onesie. On the front of each was a bee and they each had different honeybee pacis. He called the bear busy bee, cause he was busy making him happy.

He was looking for Logan and ran into Remus. "Hi Re!" 

"Hey there honeybee. Busy bee." Remus knew all of his stuffies names. He was a little too and they played sometimes. But he didn't regress as often as Janus did. "You up to any mischief?"Remus whispered.

Janus giggled. "Noo."

"Drat." Remus said causing Janus to giggle again. "And I needed someone to eat cookies with!" 

Janus gasped. "Cookies?" 

Remus nodded then sighed. " I can see that you're busy so-" 

"I can do it!" Janus yelled. "I mean... misssschief." 

Remus beamed almost laughing. He held out his hand for Janus to take. "Away we go! Off to steal some cookies."

"Cookiesssss." Janus hissed happily hopping behind Remus to the kitchen. 

Patton and Roman where in there already. "Oh... Hello little honeybee!" Patton said.

Janus waved. "Hi! I'm on a misssschief!" 

Roman gasped dramatically. "A mischief? What kind?" 

"Cookiesssss!" Janus yelled. 

Patton and Roman laughed as Remus snatched the cookie jar. "Don't eat too many." Patton warned the pair.

"Misssschief knows no rules!" Janus yelled running out of the kitchen with Remus. 

In the end he did eat too many cookies.

\----

Logan was still working and Janus didn't want to sleep alone but he didn't know who to got to. Roman and Remus were grumpy when they were sleepy. Patton snored. Logan was busy. 

The left one person.

Janus knocked on Virgil's door, he was chewing on his honeybee paci. Logan told him not to cause he could accidentally eat some of the plastic but he was nervous. What if virgil was upset and said no?

Virgil opened the door and was mildly surprised to find Janus standing there. He didn't interact with little Janus as much as the others. Too worried he would mess up.

"What's up?" Virgil asked.

Janus let the paci drop from his mouth and hang from the paci clip. He took a really deep breath before, "Can i sleep in here tonight?" 

Virgil was very surprised by the request but he wasn't about to ask about it. He just opened the door wider and step aside so Janus could come in. Janus hugged in a quick thanks before running over and crawling up on the bed.

Virgil closed the door and looked at Janus. Ok....what did he do now? Just... Let him sleep right? Or wait... Shoot did he sing a lullaby? Or ready a story? What does Logan do?

Janus was unaware of Virgil's internal panicking as he tucked himself in to bed and then made grabby hands at Virgil who slowly walked over. "Cuddle me?" Janus asked.

Virgil relaxed and gave a weak smile. This he could do. He crawled into bed and let Janus curled up against him a stuffed bear between them. "Night night. Love you." Janus said sleepy. 

"Love you too kid." Virgil said hugging him. They fell asleep, Patton found them like that in the morning and managed to get a few pictures before Virgil woke up. 

He still has them despite Virgil's half-hearted attempts to 'get rid of the evidence'.


	164. Pronoun pending 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Human AU.

"Hey what do you call someone who is questioning their gender identity?" Patton asked nervously. 

"What?" Roman asked playing along. 

"Pronoun pending." Patton said before groaning. He messed it up. He was supposed to say his name. Not...

"Hey are you ok?" Virgil asked. Everyone was looking at him. He never groaned at jokes that was Logan's thing. 

" Of course.... I mean not really... But also yes?" Patton stuttered out. He knew his friends where supportive of trans people but. He still felt nervous coming out.

"What's wrong?" Janus asked. 

"Nothing's wrong...just.... I..." Patton took a deep breath. "I'm genderfluid!" He blurted out.

"You owe me fifteen bucks!" Was not what Patton expected Remus to yelled. But seeing Roman groan and reach for his wallet made him giggle. 

"I take it you were nervous about telling us?" Logan asked.

"I mean I know you guys wouldn't be mad or anything I just...." Patton trailed off. 

"You were still worried. It's ok." Virgil said. "How are you feeling now?"

"Huh? Oh um... Still he/ him at the moment. But I switch over to they/them alot these days." Patton said.

"How long have you known?" Roman asked with a frown. He didn't like the idea that he had been misgendering his friend.

"Only a couple months... I wanted to be sure before I said anything." Patton said quickly.

"Cool! Are you gonna want a pronoun bracelet? A can make the charms look like tiny dicks!" Remus offered.

Patton laughed, "Yes to the bracelet. No to the dicks." 

"Awww." 

Patton smiled. That wasn't so hard.

\---

Her eyes teared up as she looked in the mirror. Why couldn't she stop figuring stuff out about herself? First she had to be genderfluid then she age regressed? How was that fair? Was life just trying to be difficult?

She stomped her foot in frustration. Her dysphoria bad today. She didn't wanna look like a boy! She wanted to be a girl! And she didn't wanna be little! She couldn't do things when she was little!

"Not fair! Not fair not fair not fair!"she yelled angry.

There was a knock on her door. Her roommate logan called through, "Are you alright?" 

Patton groaned and threw herself on the bed. She couldn't even change the clip on her bracelet to show she was a girl right now. 

Logan opened the door and peeked in. "May I enter?"

"Ok." She said rolled over and sitting up. He walked over and looked at the bracelet before speaking.

"Are you alright?" He asked sitting down next to Patton. 

"No! I can't... Change... Da thing!" She shook her bracelet angrily. 

"I see.... Is it broken?"he asked taking her hand and looking at the clip. He easily removed it. "It seems fine. Can you hand me the correct one to replace it?"

She handed him the pink one and he clipped it on. "Thanks."

"You sound off. Are you getting sick?" Logan asked 

She shook her head. "No i'm little." 

Logan paused confused. "Patton you may be a bit on the short side but that doesn't mean that-" 

Patton cut him off. "No! I'm little!" She said holding up four fingers. 

It took a second for it to click. "Oh. I see. You have age regressed." Logan said.

Patton burst out crying while she nodded. "I-I ... Freaky."

"You are not a freak." Logan said firmly.

"Am too! First this..." She shook her bracelet. "Now little. I'm no normal!" 

"Patton...how long as this been upsetting you?" Logan asked

Patton shrugged. "While."

"And you didn't say anything?" Logan asked.

Patton shrugged again. "I dunno." 

Logan sighed and pulled Patton into a hug. He would have to talk to her about this later. For now he would just have to watch her while she was still little.


	165. Pronoun pending 2

Patton sat with their leg bouncing. Them and Logan had decided to tell the others about their age regression in the hopes that it would help calmed their nerves.

So far it wasn't helping. Everyone was looking at them oddly and asking a lot of questions. Ones that Logan thankfully answered. Patton just couldn't face this, they couldn't. But here they were, listening to their friends talk about them like they weren't sitting right there.

They started to tear up and an arm appeared around their shoulders. Virgil gave them a smile, "it's ok. We'll get through this."

Patton sniffed. Everyone's attention was on them and for the first time they could remember, they hated it. They wanted to go hide under the covers until everything went away!

"Do you need a break?" Logan asked.

Patton nodded and stood up pulling away from Virgil before going to their room and locking the door. They crawled into bed and let their tears fall. They didn't even really know why they were upset. It was just too much.

Oh....oh no! They started crying as they realized they had regressed. After a few minutes of crying there was a knock at their door.

"Are you right in there?" Remus asked.

Patton cried harder and the door opened. Remus walked in and sat down on the bed next to them. They threw themselves into his arms. "Hey it's ok. No one thinks you're weird. Ok?" 

"I does." Patton muttered.

Remus tensed for a second before hugging Patton tighter. "Feeling little huh?" He asked.

Patton whimpered. "Hey hey it's ok." 

"No." They said. "I all weird and and not look right and now I small!" 

Remus hummed. "Would dressing up help? Ooo. We could go shopping!"

"Did someone say shopping?" Roman asked sticking his head causing Patton to giggle.

"Mmm yes!" Patton agreed. Within minutes they had changed into a large sweater and their only skirt. The twins promising to take them shopping as soon as they were bigger again.

"Right now, " Roman said leading Patton back out into the living room. "We have a surprise for you."

Patton gasped as they saw the "Blanket fort!" They ran over and crawl inside. 

"Logan's making popcorn then we'll watch whatev r you want. Ok?" Virgil said.

Patton beamed and nodded. Maybe regressing wouldn't be so bad.

\----

Shopping was taking longer than expected and Patton was getting tired. He had mentioned this to both Roman and Remus but they both insisted that it would only take. 'a few more minutes.'

Frustrated Patton regressed. He stomped his foot. "I wanna go home now!" 

Roman looked up at him mouth open in shock. "Oh...ok. let's go then." He said.

Patton huffed still mad it took so long for them to listen. Roman got Remus and they left the mall. Patton sat in the backseat with his new clothing and makeup. 

"Feeling alright?" Remus asked.

Patton pouted. "You didn't listen." 

"I'm sorry." Roman apologized. "We got a bit caught up in looking at stuff."

Patton uncrossed his arms. "Ok...." He looked at the bags. "Can I dress up when get home?" He asked.

"Of Course!" Remus said immediately.

Patton guessed he could forgive them for ignoring him. 

\---

It was quickly becoming clear that Patton regressed because she was stressed. In her regressed state her dysphoria got worse. Which made her more stressed. On top of that a lot of the clothing she had were too hard for her to put on herself. 

"Looooo!" She called. "I need help!" 

Logan sighed before walking in to help Patton. He zipped up the dress for her. She spun around and beamed erasing any irritation that Logan felt. She hugged him. "You're the best Lo!" She exclaimed before looking in the mirror and twirling back and forth to see the dress move.

"Did you want to wear any makeup?" Logan asked, he had been watching makeup tutorials just for this. 

Patton hummed before shaking her head. She held out the bracelet and the purple charm. Ah. They/them pronouns then.

Logan switched it for them and Patton clapped. "Thanks you!" 

"It's thank you." Logan said.

"You're welcome!" Patton said making Logan sigh fondly. Patton giggled. 

Patton looked in the mirror before saying out of the blue, "I'm weird...and that's ok!"

"You are different." Logan corrected.

"Right!" They agreed. "And it's ok!" 

Logan smiled at his friend. "It is."


	166. Lil sherlock.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ;-;..... I failed on this one...... Here.

Logan as everyone knew, loved sherlock holmes. He read all the books....when he was grown up. When he was little he couldn't read and after the murder mystery disaster, Roman and Remus were forbidden from reading any books to him while he was little.

So instead Logan would watch Sherlock. Only the cartoon where sherlock was in the future. Not any thing that had a more adult audience. 

He would dress up in his outfit and sitting down binge watching the show. Throwing out his theories about what was going on to anyone else in the room. 

It was great. Roman and Remus got the brilliant idea to set up a mystery for Logan to solve. A child friendly, who stole the cookies instead of the murder mystery Remus suggested with a real body. 

Logan figured it out within an hour, all the clues pointed to Virgil except those were clearly faked by whoever really did it and it ended up being Patton. 

Patton wasn't fond of that game after he had to be 'arrested'.


	167. You hate me right? Part one

Roman was a bit upset at how distant everyone was with him. He would walk into a room and the conversation would stop and everyone would stare at him. Sometimes glare. It made him fell awful. What did he do?

It got to the point where no one was talking to him at all. They hate you. That was the only answer. They got fed up with his stupid mistakes and we're just done. 

Roman didn't know what to do. He didn't have anyone to talk to anymore. So he just kinda...stayed in his room. 

\----

Janus frowned as he looked at where Roman normally sat at the dinner table. This was the eighth night in a row he skipped. In fact no one had seen him in eight days, much to the others relief. 

Everyone regressed but knowing Roman he would make fun of it, so they kept it a secret. Distancing themselves so as to not let him figure it out. But this was bad. Janus couldn't remember the last time he had talked to Roman, a couple of the others couldn't remember either. It worried him that they didn't much care that they hadn't seen or heard from him in who knows how long.

Janus left to go check on him. He opened the door after a couple knocks with no answer. He was shocked to find Roman sitting on the floor silently playing with dolls in his onesie. 

Roman.....regressed?

"Roman?" Janus asked. Roman whipped his head around and paled. 

He shook slightly as he braced himself for...something. did he expect Janus to yell at him? Did....he except to be belittled?

"Are you little right now?" Janus asked softly. 

"Umm...no." Roman lied shifting away from Janus. "What do you want?" He asked clearly trying and failing to sound big.

"I wanted to see that you were ok." Janus said.

Roman frowned confused. "Why?" 

"You haven't come out of your room in eight days."

Roman nodded still confused. "So?"

"So no one knows if you were alright?" Janus said.

Roman was still confused. "But...no one likes me...so it's good I'm alone." 

Janus felt like he got the breath knocked out of him. The worse part was he couldn't really argue that the others did like him. They didn't really care if Roman was around or not. At least when no one was regressed. When they were they were...hostile....and..cold...and...

Oh...oh no.

Roman shrugged and picked up a doll. "It's ok. I know I'm stupid..and not fun. It's better alone." He said firmly. How many times had he told himself that? How often did the others encourage that thinking with their actions?

Janus sat down on the floor next to him. "You don't have to be alone."

Roman looked up hopefully, before his face fell. "No... it's ok...sides, I don't want to ruin stuff anymore."

"Ruin stuff?"

"Hahuh. Like I says something and people get really mad at me and I ruined it." Roman said hugged the doll. "So it's ok alone." He whispered.

"Janus are you...in here?" Patton asked.

Janus had been gone for less than twenty minutes and Patton felt he needed to check on him, Roman was gone for over eight days and...

"What's going on?" Patton asked slowly as he stepped in. Roman shied away. 

"Roman's feeling little." Janus said in a harder time than he meant to. Roman's breath caught.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

Patton looked horrified. "He's been regressing alone?" 

Roman looked up at that. "I'm ok alone. I'm not ruining stuff then." 

Patton looked to Janus for an explanation. Janus explained how Roman thought he ruined everything because they were always pushing him away.

"Kiddo...we didn't....I didn't think." Patton studders as he thinks back to how horribly they had been treating him lately. 

"It's ok." Roman said again. "I know I'm not....good." his voice broke on the last word.

"Of course you're good." Patton said.

Janus winced as he heard the lie, Patton... didn't believe that.

God how badly had they messed up?


	168. You hate me right? Part two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING Virgil is a huge asshole in this. FYI.

Patton felt guilty. He hadn't noticed how poorly he got use to treating Roman. How easily he was annoyed by him just for being around. And the whole time Roman thought they hated him and was regressing alone.

Patton watched as Roman silently played with his legos, he said he didn't want to make Patton mad by saying anything.

Roman flat out refused to be regressed downstairs so instead Patton took him to his room, where Roman was playing very carefully in the corner trying to not make a mess. How badly did they mess up? 

They all got to run around, play, be loud, make a mess. Roman was scared that he would upset them if he did any of that. He was...scared of them. The thought made Patton feel sick.

It was worse knowing that part of him felt like Roman deserved it for being so annoying before. That the others didn't like him either. That if Janus hadn't gone to look for him they wouldn't have found him until who knows when...

Roman looked at Patton concerned, "I'm sorry."

Patton sniffed, when did he start crying? "For what kiddo?"

"I...made you sad?" Roman said. He had put his legos away and was just...sitting there. If patton hadn't been crying before he was now. 

"No. It's not your fault." It's mine. Patton thought. 

Roman hesitated before grabbing a tissue and holding it out for Patton. He was so concerned about Patton even while he was scared of him. 

Patton cried harder. Roman backed off as the door opened to show Virgil and Logan.

"What did you do to him?" Virgil demanded angrily at Roman.

"I-i'm sorry." Roman stuttered backing into the corner away from a very anger Virgil.

"Ignore him." Logan said. He walked over to Patton, "what's wrong?"

"Roman-" patton. Started.

"I knew it." Virgil hissed. He took a step towards Roman and Roman bolted out the door. He ran as fast as he could away and ran right into Remus.

"What are you doing?" Remus asked.

Roman flinched, "I'm sorry!" He said backing away from Remus. Remus was shocked at how... Terrified Roman was of him...and...

"Are you.... little?" Remus asked.

Roman paled and ran off. He darted into the nearest too. Which happened to be Janus'. Janus looked up at a very scared Roman. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"V-virgil an....I Patton. Was crying....an....." Roman was shaking. Janus stood and pulled him into a hug trying to calm him. 

"It's alright. You're safe now." Janus promised rubbing soothing circles against Roman's back as he swayed slightly with him. "You're safe." He repeated.

Roman let out a choked sob. "I'm sorry I'm bad."

Janus immediately denied it. Anger filled his chest, he was going to have words with Virgil.

\---

"He doesn't regress Jan." Virgil said rolling his eyes. 

"You think he could lie to me?" Janus asked.

Virgil paused. "Well...no but...he's still a jerk." 

"So he deserves to be terrified? To be alone and believe that he's awful?" Janus spat.

"He is awful!" Virgil snapped back.

Janus glared at him long enough that Virgil shifted awkwardly. "I mean....he deserves it."

"No one deserves to be broken down and terrified of the people they live with." Janus said flatly. Before walking out of the room leaving behind a guilty Virgil.

\----

Virgil decided to see for himself just how bad Roman was. He didn't expect to find him silently crying curled up in a ball in the corner of his room. 

"Roman?" Virgil asked.

Roman's head snapped up, he looked...terrified. "I'm sorry!" He blurted out.

Virgil felt sick. He didn't like the feeling. He didn't like how Roman was the source of that feeling. "You should be!" Roman whimpered. Virgil continued. "You always make people feel terrible! And you make things worse!"

"I'm sor-"

"Oh shut up!" Virgil cut him off. He hated this feeling. He wasn't the villain, Roman was! "You're the bad guy. You always have been!" 

Roman was crying and shaking. Virgil couldn't stand the look on his face so he left him there to cry.

Patton and Janus found him like that a few minutes later sobbing his heart out, muttering about how he was evil and bad and should be alone.

They looked at each other worried. What happened?

\----

It took an hour to calm Roman down enough to talk to them. "V says I'm the bad guy an...an..." He sobbed again.

"Did he yell at you again?" Patton asked worried. He had spoken to Virgil about yelling at Roman after he made him run off. Virgil hadn't taken him seriously. 

Roman curled up tighter and nodded. Janus hugged him. "I'm sorry little one."

"I'm bad." 

"No." Patton said fully believing it this time. Roman was not bad.

Janus relaxed a little at the truth in Patton's voice. Maybe they had a chance to fix this. But first they were going to need to deal with Virgil.

\---

"Since you can't be nice. You are not allowed in the same room as Roman anymore." Patton said firmly.

Virgil Rolled his eyes. "Ok."

"If he enters a room, you are you one to leave." Janus said.

Virgil got mad at that. "What? How is that fair?" 

"He won't hurt you." Patton said. "And you've made it clear that you can't be trusted."

Virgil looked between Janus and Patton before scowling. "Fine!" He stormed off.

"Do you think he'll really leave Roman alone?" Patton asked worried.

"I doubt it. We'll have to keep an eye on him." Janus said. Patton agreed. He had to fix this.

\---

Roman was playing, letting himself whisper as he played with his dolls. It was progress that he was willing to make a small amount of noise, and around Janus and Patton as well. They were slowly showing him that they could be trusted and that he was safe now.

"Thanks mama." Roman said after Janus handed him a doll shoe he dropped. 

Janus froze. Warmth spreading in his chest. He smiled and patted Roman's head. "If course little one."

"Does that make me Papa?" Patton asked teasing.

"Oh shut up." Janus said still smiling. "You're ruining the moment."

Roman giggled and his caregivers looked at him in surprise. He giggled again that their shocked expressions. They both broke out grinning.

Yeah. They could fix this after all.


	169. He's baby, whether you like it or not.

Patton was trying to suppress it. Shove it down into the deepest depths of his mind and forget about it. He could not regress. Not after last time. 

He scared Roman so badly, worried Logan. Neither of them had any idea what to do with him. So they got upset, angry at him for acting the way he had. Which made him feel worse and stay regressed longer. Which lead to them being more upset at him. 

It was a cycle he wanted to avoid. So he refused to regress, no matter how badly he wanted to. He couldn't risk a repeat. So he fought it.

But this week had been so long, and tiring, and stressful. He was half in his little headspace already and he was terrified of lossing more control. Of course it had to happen when Logan, Roman and Janus were in the kitchen with him.

"Are you alright?" Roman asked.

Patton forced himself to smile,"Yup!" 

Janus looked at him oddly. Patton's stomach dropped. Did he know? No... There was no way.

"I suggest we have a movie night." Logan said. "Relaxing after such a long week is needed." 

Patton nodded, fear filled his chest. "I love that idea!" 

Janus looked at him sharply. "Patton may I speak to you in the other room?" 

"Of course." Patton said slightly shaky.

"You don't have to if you don't want to." Roman said noticing Patton's discomfort and shooting Janus a look.

Patton brush it off. "It's ok. I'm sure it won't take long."

Patton followed Janus to the other room. "Any reason you don't want to be around anyone right now?"

"I..um..." Patton studders. He couldn't lie to Janus. "I'm sorry."

"That doesn't answer my question." Janus said softly.

"I just...I don't want to make everyone angry." He explained his voice a little higher than normal as his little side slipped through.

"Why would they be angry?" 

Patton teared up. He hugged himself. "Cause I not...." He cut himself off.

Janus figured it out though. "Patton.... Do you regress?" 

Patton burst out crying. Janus pulled him into a hug. "Shhhh. It's ok." 

"No. Lo and Ro gonna be mad!" Patton said.

Janus frowned. "I won't tell them if you let me take care of you. Deal?" 

Patton thought about it for less than a second before agreeing. Janus popped his head into the kitchen and told them that Patton wasn't feeling well before coming back and taking Patton to his room.

As soon as Janus closed the door he looked around. "Alright. Where do you keep your things?" he asked.

Patton looked at him confusion, thumb almost in his mouth. "Tinks?" 

"Your agere gear? Pacifiers? Clothing? Toys?" Janus asked.

Patton shook his head. "Don't got any."

Janus hummed. This wouldn't do. Not when Patton regressed to such a young age. He summoned a plain blue Paci abd handed it to Patton. Patton was hesitant to use it, he eyed Janus nervously.

"I gave it to you. I'm not going to take it away." Janus promised. Patton popped it in his mouth and smiled.

Patton crawled onto his bed and sat in the middle of it. Janus snapped him into pajamas with cookies on them. "There. That will do for now but we'll get you some more gear later. Alright?"

"Don't needs it." Patton protested.

"If you think I'm not going to spoil you. You're wrong." Janus said.

Patton blinked, "Why?" 

"Because you deserve it." Janus said.

"Why?" Patton asked.

"There are a lot of reasons that we can get into when your bigger ok?" Janus said.

Patton grabbed a teddy bear and hugged it. "Mkay."

\---

Patton latched on to Janus was his caregiver immediately. He even let himself regress if Janus said it was ok. 

Janus, true to his word, spoiled the heck out of him. Toys, deco pacis, clothing. Anything the little could want he got. The only problem was that Roman and Logan both disapproved of age regression. To the point that Patton would avoid them completely on days he was feeling close to regressing.

"I don't understand why you have to act like that." Logan said. 

"It's healthy." Janus said defending Patton.

"You're the problem here." Roman snapped. "You're making him think this is normal!" 

Patton teared up. Freak. He took a shaky breath. "Maybe this is weird. But it's not hurting you so why can't you just...just..piss off!" He slapped a hand over his mouth as they stared at him in shock.

"Patton."

"No! I'm not doing anything wrong and you two are just being stubborn and mean!" Patton snapped.

Janus was proud of how Patton was standing up for himself.

"I'm... sorry." Roman said slowly.

"Good! You should be." Patton huffed before storming off.

"You two have a lot to think about." Janus said before he followed Patton.

Roman and Logan looked at each other.

\---

Patton sat curled up against Janus' side as Janus read him a story. A plush dog in Patton's arms, paci in his mouth and wearing a pair of cat patterned pj's, he was feeling comfortable and safe.

At least untill there was a knock at the door and Roman stuck his head in. Patton immediately tensed. 

"What do you need Roman?" Janus asked sharply, picking up on Patton's distress.

"I have something I want to say... I'm sorry Patton. You were right, we were being stubborn and not thinking."

"We?" Janus asked.

Roman opened the door further to show Logan standing behind him. "I apologise... I wasn't thinking logically. I assumed that it wasn't healthy before doing any research on it. "

"Ok." Patton said quietly.

Janus watched Patton relax a bit. "Would you two like to join us for story time?" 

They agreed and sat down on either side of the bed. Janus went back to reading, as Patton snuggled up closer to him. Eyes slowly closing as he fell asleep.

Maybe everything would be alright.


	170. Water Dinos.

Remus ran through the hallway towards Logan's room. He knocked bouncing on the tips of his toes holding a box. "Lo! Lo! Lo!" He was only about five or six at the moment.

Logan normally didn't opened his door when he was in his teen space, but he didn't want to upset Remus when he clearly sounded small. "What's up squidling?" He asked letting Remus ran into his room and throw himself into Logan's bed.

"I made you something!" Remus said holding out the box. 

Logan took it and opened it. Inside was a green plushie. He pulled it out and looked it over. Remus was eagerly watching him. "It's a water Dino!" 

"I see."

"A Tanystropheus." Logan said. "Thank you."

"Yeah! It's a dino like I like but it's sea like like you like!" Remus said tripping over his words. "I found something we both like!" 

Logan was glad he opened his door this once. "That's true." 

"I wanna make a bunch of water Dinos for you but I only know bout that one." Remus said pointing to the stuffed Tanystropheus. He settled a little. "Maybe you could help me?"

Logan sat down on the bed next to Remus after he grabbed a notepad. "Well I see no problem with that."

\---

Logan and Remus were in an 'underwater cave' made from blankets and ribbons for seaweed. There were paper fish hanging in the air from strings. There were as Remus called them water Dinos all over the floor.

"Rawr!" Remus growled making a dino stuffie, 'bite' logan. 

"Oh nooooo!" Logan laughed as he fell over onto the pillows that covered the floor. "I have died."

"What? No you haven't!" Remus argued.

"Yup. I have. I've died." Logan said covering his face with an arm. 

"Looooo! No! It's just a game!" Remus said shaking Logan's shoulder.

"Agh! Fine! I guuuessss. I'm still alive." Logan said sitting up again.

"Oh! If you died for real you could be a fossil! Just like a dinosaur!" Remus said excited.

Logan laughed. "I guess I would be."

Remus beamed and went back to playing. Logan joined him. When Roman went looking for Remus an hour later, he found both Remus and Logan asleep cuddled up together surrounded by dinosaurs and sea life.


	171. Shall not pass.

There was a massive box fort that took up most of the common rooms. Logan looked at it as it blocked his path from his room to the kitchen. 

He sighed, "Roman please let me through."

"What's the password?" Remus asked popping his head up. 

"Remus please." Logan said.

Remus smiled,"Nope!" He ducked back down.

"Remus!" Logan yelled.

Roman popped up, "What's the password?" 

"Roman I don't have time to play right now." Logan said.

"That's not the password." Roman said.

"Well what is the password?" Logan asked.

"Oh it's-" Remus popped up and put a hand over Roman's mouth. 

"You can't tell him!" Remus said.

"Oh right. Sorry!" 

Logan sighed again. "What do I have to do to get through?" 

"Weeelllll....."

\----

Logan ended up getting his coffee, Remus and Roman also ended up with hot chocolate and cookies. Perhaps he shouldn't have ended up bribing them but it worked.

Logan looked at the box fort that was blocking his way back to his room. He noticed the look in Remus and Roman's eyes and sighed. Today was going to be a looong day.


	172. Fully fluff

It all started with a high pitched squeal of delight from Patton. He was pointing at the Christmas tree they were decorating excitedly. "Chimunck!" He babbled.

Logan chuckled, "No there aren't chipmunks in this tree." 

Patton frowned and pointed again. "Chimunck!" 

Janus let out a startled yelp as a chipmunk jumped out of the tree onto his shoulder. "What-! Roman! Why is this here?"

Roman covered his mouth to silence his laughter. "I... I thought it would be a nice... surprise." 

Patton was thrilled as the chipmunk jumped over into his hands. "Baby!" He said giving the chipmunk a gentle hug.

"You could have warned us." Logan said as he detangled lights. 

"And ruin the surprise?" Roman gasped. "Never!" Patton giggled at his antics.

"What are you going to name it?" Janus asked after he calmed. 

"Baby!" Patton yelled.

"Baby it is." Roman said waving his hand and a collar with a tag that said baby on it appeared on the chipmunk. 

"Thanks chu!" Patton said happily giving Roman a hug.

Roman hugged him back quickly before Patton could ran off and start decorating again. Baby rode on Patton's shoulder as he 'helped' string up the lights on the tree. It didn't take long for them to get the tree done, "Anything else we want to decorate today?" Janus asked.

"Cookies!" Patton yelled. 

Logan and Roman shared a look. "Of course you would say that." Roman laughed. "Alright. Let's make some cookies." 

Baby got in the way a bit and ended up jumping in the batter ruining out batch before Janus put a little leash on him. Patton mostly just played with Baby after that while his caregivers made cookies. 

He snuck three cookies when they were fresh out of the oven before anyone caught him. Then Roman ended up giving him two more before Logan caught on. 

They all snuggled up to watch a Christmas movie before bed. Patton let Baby sleep on his pillow next to his head. "Night night." 

"Good night." Janus said softly as he pulled the blanket up further onto Patton before turning off the light and closing the door. 

(Ok Ok I know this was short but writers block as been kicking my butt lately. The next one will be longer... I hope. )


	173. Kids say the darnest things.

Remus regressed to about five alot. A loooooot. It had his favorite pastime. One the others liked him better regressed in his shape shifted down form. And two, it was just plain fun seeing what he could get away with. Kids are little chaos maker after all. 

Remus woke up small. His room shifting to reflect the mental change. Every so often the animal theme of decor that covered his walls would change to the animal trait of whoever he wanted most. Today it was frogs. Cartoon frogs, graphically real frogs, dead frogs, cut open frogs, tadpoles. His bedsheets were covered in lilypad print. It was clear that Patton was going to have a bundle of crazy to look after today, not that he ever minded.

Remus got dressed in a green jumper and blue shorts. He grabbed his stuffed badger named Ricky and rushed from his room. He ran down the stairs to where everyone was already having breakfast.

"Hi!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

Instead of being yelled at, there were amused looks and laughter at his antics. "Greetings. What adventures did you have planned today?" Roman asked as Remus climbed into his seat. 

"I wanna hang out with Poppa." Remus said pointing to Patton. Patton beamed at that. 

"That sounds fantastic Kiddo. You want some breakfast?" Patton asked.

Remus nodded, he was always hungry when he was little. He even settled for eating real foods because of that. He preferred them in little space, but her wasn't going to let the others know that. He got a plate of eggs with toast and jam and wolfed it down quickly. 

"Don't choke." Logan warned as Remus shoved more food in before he finished his last bite.

"Like he'll listen." Virgil said drily, amused. 

Janus rolled his eyes. Remus never choked. He could eat anything and be fine. He wasn't worried. 

"Done!" Remus yelled pulling the plate away and grabbing Ricky who was in all honesty looking a bit beat up. 

"Ricky's looking a little rough there." Roman commented.

"Would you like me to patch him up for you?" Janus offered. Remus hesitated. On the one hand he would like Ricky to be fixed up but... Then he would miss him while he was gone.

"Ok....but hurry?" Remus asked handing the toy over. 

"Of course. I'll take good care of him." Janus promised before walking off with the toy.

Remus kicked his feet as he waited for everyone to get done eating... Well Patton to get done eating so they could play. 

"What do you think eyeballs taste like?" He blurted out.

There were a couple winces but no one yelled. "I... Don't know." Patton said forcing a smile.

"Mmm. I bet it's gross." Remus said happily.

"It does sound gross." Virgil commented.

"Well I'm off." Roman said standing.

"I should get to work as well." Logan said standing and following Roman from the room. 

Virgil gave a nod and a two fingered salute before he left as well. Patton cleaned up the dishes while Remus waited.

And waited 

An waited.

"Poppa I'm bored!" He said slumping down in his chair.

"I'm almost done. Do you want to go pick out a board game for us to play?" Patton asked.

"No. I play with play-doh." Remus said.

"Do you know where it is?" Patton asked.

"Yes."

"Ok. Go get it out! I'll be there soon." Patton said.

\----

Remus made play-doh dicks in rainbow colors. Patton laughed about it silently. He really shouldn't encourage this but..

"Dicks dicks dicks...." Remus sang while he made one. 

Patton burst out laughing. "N-n-nooooo. Don-don't sing." 

"Awww. But I wanna." Remus pouted.

"How about we play something else?" Patton asked.

"Ugh. Fiiiiine." Remus said smashing the play-doh back into the containers.

The clean up was easy, the picking out what to do next was not. "Knife juggling!"

"No."

"Pleease." 

"No Remus."

Remus crossed his arms and huffed. "Didn't even need to use real knives."

Patton hadn't thought of that. Plastic or foam knives would have been perfectly safe... But he didn't want Remus to get in the habit of throwing things.

"How about we go to the park?" Patton asked.

"Can we get Ro to go too?" Remus asked excited.

"Roman's gotta work today Kiddo." Patton said.

Remus' face fell. Patton caved. "But maybe he can take a break for awhile."

Remus was ecstatic. Bouncing along behind Patton on the way to get his brother. Roman agreed easily, and Logan even decided to come along. 

Logan sat with Patton on a bench and watched Roman push Remus on the swings. Then chasing him around in a game of tag. Then they played in the sandbox. Two hours later they had built a tiny sand city and Remus was leaning against Roman's side yawning. 

"Naptime?" Roman asked picking Remus up.

"Mmm." Remus agreed too tired to keep his eyes open. 

Roman handed Remus off to Patton so that he could get back to work. Patton managed to keep Remus awake long enough to get into clean clothing before tucking him in for his nap.

"Sleep well." Patton said giving Remus a kiss on the forehead.

Remus smiled as he dozed off. He hoped he would still be regressed when he woke up. He wanted to stay regressed forever.

\----

Remus woke from his nap bigger and disappointed. There went his afternoon. He sighed heavily and resigned himself to a lonely afternoon.

Unless.

Well no one knew that he wasn't regressed anymore he just....shape shift down to a kid again. No one would be any the wiser... Except Janus of course... But he could just stay away from him.

He ran out of his room to find Patton. "Hi kiddo. Sleep well?" 

"Yeah!" Remus said before climbing into Patton's lap and cuddling up against his chest. 

"Is someone in a cuddle mood?" Patton asked hugging him. 

"Mmm!" Remus said tucking his face against Patton's shoulder. 

It would be so easy to bite him. Remus pushed the thought away. This is why no one like not regressed him he reminded himself.

He had to behave.

"You want to watch t.v?" Patton asked.

Remus barely managed to hold back from shouting out the name of a porno... Fuck... What the heck did he watch when he was little??

"Yeah!" Remus said forcing some pep in his tone.

"What do you want to watch?" Patton asked.

Shit shit shit! What does he watch?!? 

"Remus?" Patton's voice was concerned. 

Remus sniffed. When had he started crying? He couldn't do it! He couldn't keep this up.

He hopped off Patton's lap and ran off. "Wha- Remus!"

He got to his room and slammed the door shut before shifting back to normal.

Stupid. He shouldn't be crying over this. There was a knock at the door.

"Remus what's wrong?" Patton asked.

Remus opened the door and Patton's expression shifted from worry to confusion. "Remus you're..."

"I'm bigger so you don't have to bother with me anymore." Remus said before trying to shut the door. He did not expect Patton to push the door open and hug him. 

"Oh kiddo." Patton said.

Remus cried harder. "No... You're not suppose to care!" 

"Of course I care. Little or big. Did you think we didn't care about bigger you?" 

Remus sobbed and nodded. Patton hugged him. "I'm sorry we made you feel like that. We should have been more clear."

Remus pulled away so he could look at Patton. "Can...can we still cuddle and watch t.v?" 

Patton smiled at him. "Of course. I would love to."


	174. Tadpole

Patton didn't regress often due to just how young he regressed to. A baby can't do much. The others swear they don't mind taking care of him but he still feels like a burden when he's small and helpless.

That was before Remus started taking care of him. Remus who didn't really have anything to spend his time on was thrilled when he came across a baby Patton sitting on the floor confused.

"Oh. Who's this cutie?" He asked picking the baby up and cuddling him to his chest. 

"Daba." Patton babbled before yanking on Remus' hair. 

Remus laughed which caused Patton giggle. "Well 'daba' let's get you something to play with." 

It took Remus a while to get a baby safe rattle, no poison or spikes. Just a baby blue, plain, simple rattle. "Here you go."

Patton immediately threw it. Remus fetched it for him. Patton threw it again and clapped laughing when Remus got it back. They played this for several minutes before Patton began to fuse.

"What's wrong?" Remus asked concerned. 

Patton started chewing on the rattle. "Oh! Food! Yes!....ummm.....food." Remus trailed off as he picked Patton up and headed to the kitchen.

"What do baby's eat?" Remus asked aloud.

Patton babbled in response. A less than helpful answer but one that Remus answered seriously.

"I see." He got a banana and peeled it before giving it to Patton who smashed up handfuls of it before shoving it in his mouth. 

Remus was proud of himself for finding something that the baby could eat. Patton was covered in banana by the time he was done. 

"Bath time!" Remus declared. He was about to take Patton up and give him a bath in the bathtub but... That's a bit big for a baby isn't it? He could drown.

Oh! The sink is just like a tiny bathtub right? A tiny bath for a tiny baby! Remus drew the bath in the kitchen sink and was halfway through cleaning Patton off when Logan walked in and yelped.

"What are you doing?" 

"He needed a bath!" Remus explained. 

"In the sink? And how long have you been taking care of him?" Logan asked extremely worried.

Remus shrugged. "A couple hours." Remus said gently lifting Patton from the sink and drying him off. Logan watched stunned at how careful Remus was being at drying and clothing Patton.

"I...I see."

"Now that you're here you're going to take over." Remus said reluctant to give up the baby. 

Logan thought about it. "I think that you are capable of taking care if him." He said slowly.

Remus lit up.

Logan stuck around and watched as Remus took care of Patton. Carefully playing with him, taking care of anything that Patton could need or want faster than Logan could have. 

Patton felt better then he had in weeks when he got out of his headspace. He was a bit shocked to find out Remus had taken care of him, and had gotten Logan's approval to continue to do so in the future. 

Remus insisted that he enjoyed taking care of Patton was was thrilled when Patton asked him to be his caregiver. 

Maybe Patton didn't need to worry about regressing anymore.


	175. Cough.

Janus was sick. It wasn't bad, just a mild cold. But it made him irritable. Worse was he bordering on regressing the whole time and that would just make everything worse as younger him would most certainly start crying about it. Right now no one knew that he sick and he planned to keep it that way. If patton knew...

Janus shuddered at the thought. The amount of smothering the father figure did when any of them got sick was borderline terrifying. Add on top being regressed while sick? He would be insufferable.

No. It was better that Janus suffer alone untill he got better.

\---

Janus coughed. Just one little cough. But everyone froze and turned to look at him. He paled. "Umm."

"Janus are you sick???" Patton asked darting over and putting a cool hand against his burning forehead. "You are! Why didn't you tell me??"

Janus teared up as he dropped. "Sorry." He looked down.

"And you've regressed??" Patton said a bit too loud.

Janus burst out crying. Logan stepped over and pulled him into a hug sending Patton a stern look. "Perhaps a little quieter."

Patton covered his mouth as he realized he had scared the little.

"Oh no... Janus I'm so sorry." Patton said.

"I don't like this." Janus whined.

"Being sick is never fun." Logan said.

Patton was quick to get him to the couch, bundled in blankets and get cold medicine.

"Yucky." Janus said refusing to take it.

"You need it to get better." Patton said softly.

Janus whimpered but took the medicine anyway. He fell asleep curled up against Patton. 

When he woke up later he was a bit disappointed in himself for not managing to hide his illness better. But he let himself be smothered until he was well again. He would have to try harder next time.


	176. Lime green. Part one.

Remus had a habit of hugging Janus to silently tell him that he had regressed. Janus did the same. A code to let the other know they were too small to deal with whatever was going on. They also have a habit of holding the other's hand until they were safely away from the others.

So when Janus hugged Remus in the middle of dinner, he made a quiet excuse for them both to leave so he could take care of him.

"How little are you buddy?" Remus asked as he closed the bedroom door. 

Janus climbed into his bed before holding up four fingers. He often went nonverbal when he was smaller than seven. "Oh wow. Pretty small huh?"

Janus nodded. "My little baby." Remus coo'd making Janus giggle. "You want to get dressed in something else?" 

Janus nodded and jumped off the bed running to his closet. He threw the doors open and started looking through the clothing. He pulled out a black t-shirt with a 'don't tread on me' snake and a yellow skirt. 

"Oooo. Dressing up today huh?" Remus asked taking the skirt so Janus could put on the shirt. Janus nodded before making grabby hands for the skirt. He pulled it on over his pants and bounced back over to the bed causing Remus to laugh.

"You didn't eat dinner. You want me to go get some?" Remus asked. Janus looked terrified at the thought and rapidly shook his head.

"Buddy you need to eat." Remus said.

Janus pointed to his desk. Remus opened a couple drawers before he found a package of cookies. "You know that's not a healthy supper."

Janus pouted. Remus chuckled and say down on the bed with Janus. "Oh ok. Buy tomorrow you're eating healthy."

Janus nodded in agreement before clapping in excitement. He eagerly ate a dozen cookies before he whined and tugged on Remus' sleeve.

"What's wrong?" Remus asked. Janus pointed to his mouth. "Thirsty?" Janus nodded.

"I'll be back in a second." Remus said giving Janus a quick forehead kiss before sinking out. He grabbed the milk and just came back with the whole carton. He grabbed one of the sippy cups from the closet and poured Janus a cup.

Janus had a few tears in his eyes from Remus leaving for only a few seconds. He tended to be extremely clingy in little space. Not that Remus was any better. Remus pulled Janus into his lap and rocked him softly as Janus drank his milk.

He dozed off slowly before the sippy cup slipped from his hand. He tucked Janus in bed and burrowed under the covers next to him. He let Janus hold his hand in a death grip in his sleep. Nothing was going to tear him away from the little untill he wasn't regressed anymore.


	177. Purple one

Virgil was baby. He was cuddled up between Remus and Janus on the couch as they watched sesame street. He had his bat pj’s on with his purple spider paci. He was bundled in a purple and black patchwork blanket that Remus made him. His head resting on Janus’ shoulder and he was holding Remus’ hand. 

He didn’t regress around the light sides yet. He wasn’t sure how they would react to it. So while big Virgil and Janus had some issues to work on still, Little Virgil was never afraid to go see Dee and Ree. His caregivers had made it clear to the little that the big issues didn’t effect little him and that he was always welcome back. 

So Virgil stayed until he snapped out of his headspace and would leave, normally without a word. He felt guilty about it but he wasn’t ready to face them about why he left. He wasn’t able to admit to the fact he messed up. 

Virgil’s thoughts drifted to the upsetting truth that he had messed up by leaving and tears filled his eyes. He sniffed a couple times before Remus and Janus heard him. “What’s wrong Spiderling?” Janus asked softly.

“I’m bad.” Virgil sobbed clearly still regressed. Remus and Janus shot each other panicked looks.

“Why do you think that?” Janus asked.

“Did they say something to you?” Remus asked ready to go knock some heads together. 

Virgil shook his head. “I hurt you. I didn’t mean too.” 

Janus sighed. “Oh spiderling. You don’t have to worry about that now.” But he knew that telling Virgil to not worry about something almost never worked.

Virgil kept crying, He curled up pulling away from Ree and Dee as much as he could being sandwiched between them. Remus didn’t let him get far before pulling him all the way onto his lap and cuddling him. “You aren’t bad. You did what you thought you had too.” 

“Hurt you. I’m bad.” Virgil repeated sobbing harder.

Neither of them knew this had been weighting so heavily on him. In fact they had thought he didn’t care at all. It seemed he cared too much. 

“You know you could make it up to us by staying.” Janus said fully aware this was a selfish thing to say. It was unfair to put this on Little Virgil, but if in anyway made him feel better-

Virgil wailed. “I can’t! I’m bad! Bad bad bad!” 

Remus shot Janus a glare. “You aren’t bad. You’re just different.” 

“Diffent?” Virgil asked sniffing.

Remus nodded. “You don’t belong down here with us. You belong up there. You leaving doesn’t make you bad.” 

Janus didn’t agree with that, and the fact he could tell Remus believed it made him feel bitter and angry. Of course Virgil belonged with them! He needed them! Little and big! He just didn’t see that anymore.

Janus excused himself before he could upset the little further. 

\---

Virgil didn’t go to Ree and Dee the next time he regressed, instead he stayed in his room and sobbed the whole time. He passed out with eyeshadow trailed down his cheeks. 

The next time he saw Janus he winced as Janus glared at him before sinking out wordlessly.


	178. Family issues, preview.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A human AU that will be a tad longer than my recent stuff so it'll take a bit longer to get out than normal. ;3

Human AU

The zoo was crowded. Thomas tugged on Patton’s hand as he dragged his friend towards the marine life. The rest of their friend group followed at their own pace. Patton chuckled to himself as Thomas pointed excitedly to the seahorses. It was clear that he had regressed sometime after seeing the lemurs. 

“How are you doing Kiddo?” Patton asked quietly so as to not draw attention from the other people around them. 

Thomas held up four fingers. Patton nodded. When Thomas regressed under five he went non-verbal. Patton ruffled the little’s hair and grabbed his hand to make sure he didn’t run off and get lost this time. 

That was something he wanted to make sure they didn’t repeat. 

When Roman and Remus caught up to them they took in how Patton was holding Thomas’ hand and looked at each other. Remus darted over and picked up Thomas before putting him on Roman’s back. Thomas giggled as Roman gave him a piggyback ride. 

“Don’t drop him!” Patton warned as Roman and Remus walked off with Thomas. 

They got a few looks but Thomas was having too much fun to notice and Roman and Remus didn’t care. 

\---

Logan pointed at the dinosaur fossils and listed off facts for Thomas as he hung on to Logan’s arm staring at him with wide eyes. Listening intently. Thomas loved learning when he was little which is why Logan suggested they all go to the science museum. Sure it was a drive but it was worth it for the look on Thomas’ face as he pointed at things he liked and demanded that Logan tell him about them. 

He was around ten, on the other older side of his regression range. He still had to hold someone’s hand the whole time so he didn’t get lost and this time he chose Logan. Janus hung around close by while the others wandered. Thomas grabbed his hand too when he stepped over to get a look at a prehistoric flower drawing. Thomas beamed at him and Janus knew he wasn’t going to be getting his hand back anytime soon. (Not that he minded.)

\---

Thomas played tag with Remus, Roman and Patton while Janus and Logan set up the picnic. Virgil had muttered something about the sun before he went to find some shade. Thomas stopped running and leaned against a tree. He looked confused. 

“Are you ok?” Roman asked.

Thomas cleared his throat. “Yeah..just...forgot where I was for a second.” He said in his bigger voice. 

Roman nodded. “You want to go get some food?” 

Thomas smiled. “Yeah. Yeah ok.”

Roman grabbed Thomas’ hand even though he wasn’t regressed anymore. Thomas frowned but didn’t say anything about it.


	179. Space is cool

Space was always an interest for Logan. Everyone knew about that. What they didn't know is that Janus liked space just as much, especially when he was regressed. He would babble about it to Remus for hours. 

Remus suggested telling Logan that he liked it too but Janus was afraid the others would think he was lying. So Remus took matters into his own hands.

Janus was painting the milkyway carefully, he had been working on this painting for weeks only able to add on to it when he had time. 

"That's very good." Janus jumped as Logan spoke behind him. "Sorry I didn't mean to scare you."

"Just startled." Janus said trying to get his heart rate down. 

"I didn't know you like space." Logan said without a hint of accusation in his voice.

"I do. It's an interest of mine." Janus admitted.

Logan smiled, "I would love to talk about it with you." Logan said honestly, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

Janus dropped. "Yeah! We can do that."

As they talked Janus spoke mostly in his little voice and Logan while surprised that Janus was little easily adjusted his behavior to be more open and comforting for him.

"So I guess stars are really hot and that's really cool." Janus said. Logan lost track of how many things about space were 'really cool'. He smiled and nodded along.

"Yes it is in a way cool." Logan said.

Remus watched from the corner of the room. Proud that his plan to invite Logan over worked. And he didn't even have to bring it up himself.


	180. Baby yellow.

Janus was cranky and tired and was snapping at everyone. He hadn't slept well in two weeks or regressed in that time either. 

"Ok, it's time for you to chill." Remy said firmly after Janus hissed at Patton. 

"Piss off!" Janus snapped. 

Remy rolled his eyes and pulled Janus into a hug. "That's no kind of language for a baby."

"I not....I'm not-" janus stuttered trying to not regress and failing. Remy started humming and Janus stopped struggling. He slumped against him. 

"Ready to tell us what the problem is?" Remy asked. 

"Tired." Janus muttered into Remy's shoulder tears welling up in his eyes.

"Oh baby. Why didn't you come get me sooner?" Remy asked leading Janus to his room.

"Didn't want more nightmares." Janus said reluctant to get in bed. 

Janus took for Janus' hat and ran a hand through the little's hair. "If I'm here there will be no nightmares ok?" He said gently.

Janus nodded before yawning and crawling into bed. Remy tucked him in before sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. Janus fell asleep and slept peacefully for the first time in weeks.

Janus woke up small. "No nightmares!" He said happily.

Remy grinned. "I told you." 

"Can...can you stay?" Janus asked worried that Remy would disappear as soon as Janus was fully awake.

Remy hugged him. "As long as you'd like." He said pressing a kiss to the top of Janus' head.


	181. Baby come out.

Janus was hiding in the kitchen cupboard. He was about two and bailing his eyes out at the fact that Virgil had told him he was too busy to take care of him....again. 

It had been weeks since he had regressed with his caregiver. Ever since Virgil had started dating Roman he didn't have time for the little anymore. No one else other than Virgil knew. At least untill the cupboard door opened to show a confused and concerned Roman.

"Janus? What-?" Roman would have thought it was a prank if the little didn't look so heartbroken and small. He picked Janus up who despite not being on friendly terms with Roman (he did steal his caregiver) cuddled up to him.

"Hey hey shhh. You're ok now." Roman promised swaying a little. He didn't know what was going on but he was not going to just leave Janus to suffer. 

"Hey Ro-" Virgil's speech was cut off as he heard the crying and he moved forward to see a very small Janus.

"I don't know what happened to him. Maybe my Brother-" Roman started before Virgil shook his head.

He gently took Janus from Roman. "Hey buddy. I really missed up huh?" 

"Gone! Buzy!" Janus said crying harder. Virgil felt his heart ache. 

"I'm so so sorry buddy. I swear I never meant to abandon you." Virgil said.

"What's going on?" Roman asked.

Virgil took a deep breath. "Have you ever heard of age regression?"

\----

Janus giggled as Roman lifted him up in the air. 

"Careful!" Virgil said wincing at how close Janus was to the top of the doorframe. It would be so easy for him to get his head slammed into it...

Roman picked up on his boyfriend's distress and lowered Janus who whined. "Uppies!" 

"Veevee is going to have a heart attack bud." Roman said explaining why they were stopping.

Janus huffed. "Uppies." He muttered.

Roman laughed and booked his nose. "How about we go see Adonis?" Adonis was a large plush cobra that Roman enchanted to move and act like a friendly snake. 

"That's a great idea." Virgil said relieved. Roman laughed at the look on his boyfriend's face.

Virgil scowled at him. "What?" 

Roman kissed him, "You're adorable." 

Virgil blushed. Janus whined. "Roro! Adonis! Now!" He said tugging on Roman's Sash causing both his caregivers to laugh.

"Ok ok. Let's go." Roman said holding Janus with one arm and reaching out and grabbing Virgil's hand with the other.

Roman set Janus on the floor and let Adonis out of the closet. The snake was over to Janus and tickling him with it's tongue in seconds, causing the little to shriek with laughter. 

Virgil sat down on the ground and pulled Janus into his lap, making sure the little didn't get over tickled. 

Roman snuck some pictures. He never expected to take on a parental role but he found that he quite liked it. Virgil and Janus were giggling as they played with adonis. Roman smiled, yeah. He didn't mind being a caregiver at all.


	182. Lime green. Part two.

Janus almost fell over as Remus hugged him from behind. Janus excused himself from his conversation with Logan so he could take care of the little.

Remus bounced as he led Janus to his room where he had pulled out everything to make a blanket cave. "Is it a mountain cave or sea cave?" Janus asked taking in the supplies.

"Both!" Remus exclaimed. 

Janus chuckled at that and started building.

It didn't take long for the cave to be finished. Green and blue twinkle lights covered the ceiling of the cave and plush blankets and pillows covered the floor. Janus got snacks that Remus thought to grab before regressing and moved them into the cave before letting Remus crawl in.

Janus and Remus sat in the cave eating goldfish and m&ms. Remus told a story about a dream he had. Janus listened intently gasping and nodding along. 

After the snacks were all gone and the story was down Remus yawned and curled up laying his head in Janus' lap.

"Is someone ready for a nap?" Janus asked.

Remus hummed and stuck his thumb in his mouth. Janus tsk'd before removing it and replacing it with his squid paci. Remus' eyes drifted close as Janus started singing softly. 

"-Mama's gonna buy you a poisoned ring, and if that poisoned ring doesn't kill, Mama's gonna buy you a murder mill-"

Remus started snoring softly as Janus ran his fingers through Remus' hair. He leaned back against the wall and let his own eyes drifted shut. His singing trailing off.as the two slept peacefully.


	183. Space is cool part two.

After everyone found out that Janus liked space, Roman offered to paint the ceiling of Janus' room with the milkyway, an offer that Janus was ecstatic about. (Logan had decline that offer before.)

There was just one problem. Roman kept messing up. "That doesn't go there." Janus said for the twentieth time. It was clear that he was regressed and that was why he was so bluntly pointing Roman's mistakes. But it still made the prince feel awful.

Just as Janus started to point another mistake Roman dropped for the first time and burst out crying. Janus stared at him shocked before running off to find Remus.

Remus could fix this.

Logan wandered by before Janus got back with Remus. "Roman? What's wrong?" Logan asked shocked at finding Roman bailing his eyes out in Janus' room. 

Roman hugged Logan, "Jan said...said... I mess up...all the time! Just...just so much.." he whimpered.

It didn't take Logan long to figure out that Roman had regressed. "Are you feeling little?" He asked.

"No! I not Janus!" Roman said. 

Logan paused confused. Did Roman not know he had regressed? "Roman are you feeling younger?"

Roman sobbed but nodded. At that point Janus got back with Remus. "Re's here. He'll make it better!" Janus promised.

Remus looked at Roman confused before looking to Logan who mouthed 'he's regressed'. 

Oh. 

"Hey buddy." Remus said gently. "Can you tell me what's wrong?" 

"I kept messing up da painting and den my head was fuzzy." He said rubbing at his eyes. 

"I see. Well I think it's time to take a break from-" Remus stopped when he heard a sniffle from behind him. "Jan?" The little had started crying as well.

"Did I hurt Ro?" He asked in a broken tone.

"No..." Logan said quickly. 

"Let's all go to the other room and calm down ok?" Remus suggested.

Janus nodded still crying. 

It took a half hour to calm both of them down. Janus would cry because he 'hurt' Roman and Roman would start crying again because Janus was crying. It was a bad loop that took Remus moving Janus to the other room till he was calm to break it.

"Now. Janus you didn't mean to upset Roman. You were just trying to make sure he did it right. Roman you were trying your best. It's ok if you mess up a little. If you want I'll help after you two aren't regressed anymore." Logan said.

Roman was snuggled up to Logan's side, Janus was cuddled up to Remus. The littles agreed and Remus turned on the t.v to a disney movie for them.

"Looks like you've got a little to take of Lo." Remus said.

Logan's lips twitched upwards as he tightened his grip on Roman. "I guess I do." 

Remus laughed quietly.


	184. Purple two

Virgil felt awful. He wanted to talk to Remus and Janus. (Mostly Janus) but one of them had locked him out. He had pushed them too far and now they wouldn't even let him back to regress. 

You were using them and they finally caught on. His mind said. Virgil couldn't argue with that. What did he do for them? He never did anything but bitch at them or demand they care for him. 

Guess he wasn't going to regress anymore.

\---

Remus was worried. Janus was pissed off and Virgil hadn't come by in nearly two weeks. He didn't go these long without regressing. Remus decided to check on him.

He rose up in Virgil's room not bothering to knock. Virgil jumped, "What are you doing here?" He didn't sound pissed off like normal he sounded...scared.

Remus frowned causing Virgil to flinch. "I wanted to know why you haven't been back. Did I do something?" Remus asked afraid he somehow hurt Virgil. 

Virgil looked confused. "You guys locked me out?' 

"What? No we didn't!" Remus said shocked before sunk out to check. Virgil had been locked out.. he rose back up. "I had no idea..."

"It's ok. I know I am a burden on you and I can't even give anything back and-" Remus hugged him to stop his spiraling. 

"You are welcome. I don't know what's going on between you and Jan. But if you ever need me. I will be there." Remus promised.

Virgil burst out crying as he dropped. He hugged Remus tighter. " Jan wants me home... But this is home.... I can't go back... I tried!" 

Remus' heart ached as he rocked the little back and forth. So that's why Janus was being pissy. He was going to have words with the snake. But for now he had to take care of Virgil. 

\---

Remus left after Virgil was no longer regressed and was down for a nap. Regressed or not, the spider was tired and he needed sleep.

"Janus." Remus said using his full name, no nickname. Janus looked up concerned by the serious approach the Duke was taking.

"Is everything alright?" Janus asked.

"You locked Virgil out? He hasn't been able to regress for over two weeks because of you!" Remus had meant to remain calm but he was quickly lossing his self control.

Janus scowled and looked away. "He doesn't want to be here then he should just stay away."

"He does want to be here! He can't move back! Not doesn't want to... Can't!" Remus snapped.

Janus looked up at him. "What?"

"He's tried to move back but he can't." Remus said firmly as if saying it like that would get Janus to understand that he messed up. 

"I need to talk to him." Janus said standing.

"Yeah. You do." Remus said.


	185. Thistle.

Roman and Logan were watching a baby Virgil.

Virgil was baby. And by that he had shrunken down to baby size as well as mentally. Roman was holding him as Logan prepped a bottle the baby. Virgil babbled as he played with Roman's fingers.

"Is someone a hungry baby? I bet you are." Roman coo'd at him. 

Logan sighed. "Roman you don't need to babytalk at him." 

Roman gasped. "Of course I do!" He said to Logan before turning back to Virgil. "I do. Yes I do!" Virgil giggled. Roman shot Logan a told you so look. Logan fought to keep the smile off his face as he walked over with the bottle.

Roman surprised him by handing Virgil over so Logan was the one to feed him. Roman normally threw a fit if Logan tried to take Virgil. 

"You two need to bond." Roman said lightly. Logan didn't think anything of it untill he heard a click. He looked up to find Roman had his phone out and was taking pictures.

"Ah. It was a trap." Logan said drily causing Roman to laugh. 

"Memories." Roman explained vaguely before walking off. 

Logan shook his head before going back to feeding the baby. 

\---

Logan walked by Virgil's room and heard Roman cooing. Had Virgil regressed again? He peeked his head in to find an adult Virgil and Roman looking through... Was that a scrap book?

"What's going on?" Logan asked stepping into the room. 

Virgil's eyes were red but he was smiling. He got up and rushed over to hug Logan. Roman was smiling softly as he lifted the scrapbook that was filled with pictures of the two of them taking care of baby Virgil.

"Virgil confessed that he was worried he was burdening us by us taking care of him. I needed proof to show him that we really do enjoy watching him." Roman explained.

Virgil's arms tightened around Logan. "Thank you." 

Logan held Virgil to his chest. "Of course. We love you. You are in no way a burden." Logan said softly.

Logan then led Virgil back over so they could all three look through the scrapbook together.


	186. Family issues.

Thomas regressed from between an infant to a preteen. He had been regressing since highschool but never told anyone. Then he moved in with his housemates. He never let anyone in his room due to having a large amount of stuffed animals and toys. He was afraid that they would figure it out and then freak out on him. So he kept his door locked at all times. He was so paranoid about it he would double check that it was locked before leaving.

He would leave if he started feeling even a little small and gave weak excuses as to why he needed to go. He knew that his friends were going to think something was up with him. He could only hope that they didn’t find out. 

After a few months he got too comfortable. It had been a long day and Patton was acting all parental like always and-

“Thanks dad.” He said after Patton gave him a cookie. Thomas immediately slapped a hand over his mouth. Everyone was looking at him. Oh shoot! What does he do? What-

“Yeah thanks dad!” Remus said louder, causing everyone to look away from Thomas. 

“Best cookies ever Dad!” Roman added giving Thomas a wink. He felt relief wash over him as the twins helped cover up his mistake. 

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Don’t be rude to Pat-”

“Awww! Kiddos!” Patton said almost bouncing at being called dad. Everyone moved on, Logan kept glancing at Thomas thoughtfully. 

After that everyone except Janus and Logan took up calling Patton dad. (though Logan and Janus both slipped out once each and each time it left Patton beaming for the rest of the day.) So maybe the fact that Thomas took up looking at Patton as a dad didn’t help when he had a nightmare and regressed. 

He took a polar bear stuffie and a fluffy blanket and went to the living room to watch t.v. He found Logan and Patton there talking. “Oh...sorry.” He muttered, turning around to go back to his room. 

“You can stay.” Patton said, calling him back. 

Thomas gave a shy grin before going over and sitting as far away from the other two on the couch as he could. Patton frowned at that. “You can sit closer if you want.” 

“I’m ok.” Thomas said, tightening his grip on the polar bear. 

“What are you doing up so late?” Logan asked. Thomas had to work in the morning, in less than two hours he normally got up to get ready. 

“Had a nightmare.” Thomas said. Patton and Logan shared a look. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Patton asked.

Thomas teared up thinking about it and shook his head. Patton’s eyes widened at how vulnerable Thomas looked. “Oh Kiddo. It’s ok. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” He paused. “Would you like a hug?” 

Thomas nodded rapidly and shifted over so Patton could wrap his arms around him. “It’s ok. You’re safe now.”

Thomas sniffed. “Thanks dad.” 

Logan watched the whole thing play out. A theory forming in his head. 

\---

The next time Thomas had a nightmare he went to Patton who was more than happy to let him sleep with him. Promising he would keep the nightmares away. Thomas was a bit surprised at how Patton didn’t find it at all weird for Thomas to seek out his company instead of just dealing with it on his own. Then he found out that Virgil did the same thing.

Thomas was curled up in Patton’s bed when there was a knock on the door. Patton got up to answer it waking Thomas up. He rubbed his eyes and froze as he saw Virgil staring at him from the doorway. 

“Did you have a nightmare too?” Patton asked Virgil. 

Virgil nodded slowly, carefully stepping into the room. “There’s still plenty of room.” Patton said smiling as he gave Virgil a one armed hug. Thomas shifted over so there was more room. 

Virgil looked uncomfortable. Thomas felt bad, “I can leave?” He offered.

Virgil shook his head. “No..I didn’t mean to..interrupt?” 

Thomas didn’t get it, but Patton seemed to. “Oh no Kiddo. It’s not like that. Thomas had a nightmare.” Thomas nodded his head at that. 

Virgil relaxed a little. “Oh…” 

“Do you still wanna sleep?” Thomas asked, tired and ready to go back to sleep himself. 

Virgil snorted at his tone and crawled into bed. Thomas was asleep before Patton got back in bed. It was a tight fit but they managed. 

In the morning Virgil was more friendly towards Thomas than he had been the entire time he had been there. They had found their common ground. They never talked about it, but if one of them ran into the other on their way to Patton’s room they would hold each other’s hands until they got there. A silent, ‘I’m here you’re safe’.

When Patton mentioned off hand to Logan, the teacher paused before moving on. He added that to the list of behaviors that he found odd about Thomas.  
\---  
Logan hadn’t planned on confronting Thomas but when he ran away in the middle of movie night again he needed to make sure that if it was what he thought it was, that Thomas didn’t feel they would hate him for it. 

“Are you alright?” Logan asked as Thomas was unlocking his bedroom door.

Thomas jumped and spun around to stare at Logan terrified. “You age regress don’t you?” He asked, jumping straight to the point. 

Thomas froze before slowly nodding. “Are you regressed now?” Another nod. Thomas looked away from Logan and crossed his arms protectively in front of himself. 

Logan stepped closer, “No is going to judge you for this.” He said softly. 

Thomas looked at him wide eyed. “You won’t?” He asked his voice higher than normal. 

Logan smiled, “We won’t...do you want to tell the others?” 

Thomas grabbed Logan’s hand, “Can you do it for me?” He asked hopefully. 

Logan nodded and tugged Thomas along back to the Living room. Everyone looked up as they stepped back in the room. The movie was already paused at both of them abruptly leaving. 

“Is everything ok?” Roman asked as Patton stood up. 

“Ummm…” Thomas looked to Logan. 

“Have any of you heard of age regression?” 

\----

It didn’t take long to explain it to everyone, and like Logan promised no one was mean about it. Roman and Remus had known someone who age regressed before and had a hunch that was what was going on with their friend.

“So how old are you right now kiddo?” Patton asked.

Thomas thought about it, “Seven? I think?” 

“That’s fairly young. I don’t think you should be by yourself right now.” Janus said tugging Thomas so he sat down on the couch between him and Remus. Janus put an arm around Thomas’ shoulders. Thomas relaxed as Roman started the movie again. They didn’t hate him. 

\---

He started regressing around the others instead of running away. They even decided on cues to show that he was regressed. He would say blueberry or clap twice. 

“So does anyone else know about this?” Virgil asked one day. 

Thomas shook his head. “You guys are the first people I’ve ever told.” 

Virgil paused before he spoke, “So I’ve done some researching and… there’s this thing called caregivers? Do you want a caregiver?” 

“Well I mean..kinda? I never planned on telling anyone so I never really let myself think about it.” Thomas admitted.

Virgil nodded. He had an idea but he wanted to ask the others about it first. 

\---

Thomas walked in to everyone waiting for him. “Ummm….Hi?” They never hang out together outside family nights so all of them waiting for him in the middle of the afternoon? His anxiety spiked. Fear choked him. Did they decide the age thing was too weird and were kicking him out?

“So remember how I asked if you wanted a caregiver?” Virgil asked. That eased Thomas’ fear and replaced it with curiosity and a hint of hope.

“Yeah?” 

“What if we took care of you?” Patton almost yelled way too excited to let Virgil build up to further. 

Thomas looked around at all of them smiling at him. “R-really? You all want to?” 

“We do.” Janus agreed. 

“Yeah! I mean we’ve kinda been doing that already?” Remus said. 

“Might as well.” Roman said. 

“Only if you are comfortable with it.” Logan added.

Thomas half regressed at that. “Yes! I would love that!” He flapped his hands before clapping twice. There was laughter as Thomas ran around hugging all of them. 

He never thought he would get one caregiver and now he had six!

\---  
They all started going out together on their days off. More often than not places that would cause Thomas to regress. He was a bit nervous about it but he had six people to take care of him and that eased his discomfort. 

The zoo was crowded. Thomas tugged on Patton’s hand as he dragged his friend towards the marine life. The rest of their friend group followed at their own pace. Patton chuckled to himself as Thomas pointed excitedly to the seahorses. It was clear that he had regressed sometime after seeing the lemurs. 

“How are you doing Kiddo?” Patton asked quietly so as to not draw attention from the other people around them. 

Thomas held up four fingers. Patton nodded. When Thomas regressed under five he went non-verbal. Patton ruffled the little’s hair and grabbed his hand to make sure he didn’t run off and get lost.

When Roman and Remus caught up to them they took in how Patton was holding Thomas’ hand and looked at each other. Remus darted over and picked up Thomas before putting him on Roman’s back. Thomas giggled as Roman gave him a piggyback ride. 

“Don’t drop him!” Patton warned as Roman and Remus walked off with Thomas. 

They got a few looks but Thomas was having too much fun to notice and Roman and Remus didn’t care. 

They got ice cream for all of them and sat on some benches in the shade. Thomas got ice cream all over his face and shirt. Patton laughed a bit as he wiped Thomas’ face off. “Messy.” 

Thomas giggled and flapped his hands happily causing a couple close by to shoot them an odd look. This time Thomas picked up on it and put his hands down. He wanted to shift out of his headspace but he was stuck. He frowned before yawning. 

“Looks like it’s time to head home.” Janus said grabbing out of Thomas’ hands, Roman grabbed the other. Thomas fell asleep on the ride home. A seahorse plushie Logan had got him from the gift shop tucked under his arm.

\---

Thomas didn’t lock his door anymore. In fact most of the time he left it open so that the others could stick their heads in whenever they wanted, or come in and hang out. He liked the silent company of Virgil who would sit on the bean bag in the corner of the room. (Thomas may have gotten it just for him.) Or Remus laying across his bed spilling out random slightly disturbing facts. Roman sitting on the edge of the desk and helping Thomas spitball ideas for his writing. Janus who would find Thomas staying up too late and insist they both get some tea to help them relax for bed. Logan who would drop off random books that he thought Thomas would enjoy reading. Patton who gave him small gifts of sweets or toys.

To say he was spoiled was an understatement. Thomas never had to go without a caregiver if he was regressed. There was always someone free who was more than eager to take care of little him. There was a nagging thought that the others preferred him regressed to him normally began bugging him. 

Patton and Logan would often ask multiple times a day if he needed to regress, giving him disappointed looks when he said no. Roman and Remus would just go ahead and baby him big or little and half the time that caused him to regress. Virgil spoke to him more when he was regressed and Janus…Janus seemed to just like taking care of people and when Thomas regressed whether he liked it or not, needed to be taken care of. 

So Thomas tried to back off regressing. This however didn’t go as he planned as the next day Logan insisted they all go on a trip. A couple hours away was a huge museum that little Thomas had wanted to go to for forever. He was regressed before they even got in the building. 

Logan pointed at the dinosaur fossils and listed off facts for Thomas as he hung on to Logan’s arm staring at him with wide eyes. Listening intently. Thomas loved learning when he was little which is why Logan suggested they all go to the science museum. Sure it was a drive but it was worth it for the look on Thomas’ face as he pointed at things he liked and demanded that Logan tell him about them. 

He was around ten, on the other older side of his regression range. He still had to hold someone’s hand the whole time so he didn’t get lost and this time he chose Logan. Janus hung around close by while the others wandered. Thomas grabbed his hand too when he stepped over to get a look at a prehistoric flower drawing. Thomas beamed at him and Janus knew he wasn’t going to be getting his hand back anytime soon. (Not that he minded.)

It wasn’t until they were leaving that Thomas remembered that he was trying to not regress and managed to wrestle himself out of his headspace. The ride home he was silent which the others took as him being little. In fact he was thinking. He didn’t think having six caregivers would be a problem. 

\---

Thomas was small, the smallest he had been around them. Remus and Janus were the only ones home with him and they were both more than happy to take care of the baby. Remus held Thomas in his lap while Janus coo’d at him. Thomas giggled and clapped happily too young to speak. Janus took pictures. 

When Thomas saw the pictures later they made him feel…small. Janus was quick to snatch up the printed out pictures before shooing Thomas from the room. Thomas was a little disappointed that he didn’t get to hang out with Janus but shook his head. It was fine. They clearly didn’t want him around if he wasn’t regressed anyway.

He started only seeking out their company when he was regressed and was bitter about how none of them complained about it. They really did only want to spend time with him when he was little. That hurt in a way Thomas didn’t expect. 

\---  
One weekend they all went to the park. It was warm and not likely to rain. The only problem that Thomas could think of was that there would be other people. But his fears were eased when Logan assured him they would be going to a part of the park that no one normally visited. 

Thomas played tag with Remus, Roman and Patton while Janus and Logan set up the picnic. Virgil had muttered something about the sun before he went to find some shade. Thomas stopped running and leaned against a tree. He looked confused. 

“Are you ok?” Roman asked.

Thomas cleared his throat. “Yeah..just...forgot where I was for a second.” He said in his bigger voice. 

Roman nodded. “You want to go get some food?” 

Thomas smiled. “Yeah. Yeah ok.”

Roman grabbed Thomas’ hand even though he wasn’t regressed anymore. Thomas frowned but didn’t say anything about it. What was he supposed to say? He didn’t want them to start ignoring him because he wasn’t little anymore.

As they sat down to eat it was clear that he was annoyed but he didn’t talk so Roman assumed he regressed again until in the middle of eating Thomas stood up, “I’m going to go take a walk.” 

Janus, Patton, and Logan all half stood to go with him. “Alone.” He said sharply. He felt back at the hurt and shock on their faces but he needed to be alone for a bit.

He walked off faster than necessary. It took him twenty minutes to get to the other side of the park, there he found a swing set that had a pair of adults sitting on it. One was wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket ( It’s the middle of summer? That’s way too hot?) And the other had pink dyed hair. 

“Mind if I join you?” He asked the pair. The one with the sunglasses tensed but the pink haired one beamed. 

“Sure!” He said before sticking out his hand. “I’m Emile! This is Remy!” 

Remy sighed. “Emile we don’t talk to strangers.” 

“He looks nice.” Emile protested and It clicked that Emile may be regressed. 

“Are you...um..a little?” Thomas asked awkwardly.

Remy glared daggers at him. Emile didn’t seem to mind at all. “Yep!” 

“You got a problem with that?” Remy asked threateningly.

“No! I mean..I regressed too so...I just never met anyone else that did...that.” Thomas said weakly. 

Remy’s face softened. “Oh?”

Thomas nodded sitting on the swing seat next to Emile. “Yeah.” 

“It’s good to meet you!” Emile said. “Maybe we can be friends!” 

Thomas smiled at that dropping a little. “Sure!” Remy’s lips twitched a little in a small smile. 

“So. How young do you get kid?” Remy asked as he gave Emile a small push on the swing. 

“I’m normally around seven. But I can be older or younger though.” Thomas said. 

“What’s your name?” Emile asked.

Oh. He hadn’t given his name yet had he. “Thomas.” 

“Ok!” Emile said he looked at Remy. “Do you think we can have Thomas over sometime?” 

Remy sighed. “Let’s see if you two can be friends first.” 

Emile nodded. 

“How young are you?” Thomas asked Emile. 

“Four!” Emile said happily. Thomas smiled. He was feeling about eight. 

“Do you have a caregiver?” Remy asked. Thomas got really quiet. Remy frowned. “It’s ok if you don’t.”

“No I..I do.. I have six.” Thomas muttered. Remy’s eyes widened. “They’re my housemates.” Thomas explained. 

“Lucky you.” Remy teased.

Thomas shrugged. Remy frowned again. “Is there a problem?” 

“I just...I don’t think they like big me.” Thomas confessed.

“Why not?” Emile asked.

“Cuz they like little me.” Thomas said.

“So? Remy likes me little and big.” Emile said stopping swinging so he could talk better.

Thomas kicked at the woodchips under the swing. “I dunno. I think...I dunno.” 

Remy pulled out a piece of paper from a bag he had sitting nearby. He scribbled a number on it. “If you ever need to call me you can.” 

“Thanks…” Thomas said shyly as he tucked the piece of paper in his pocket. He stood to walk back before freezing and realizing that he didn’t remember the way back. He patted his pocket for his phone and forgot he left it with Logan so it wouldn’t get damaged while he was playing.

“Something wrong?” Remy asked.

“I don’t remember how to get back.” He muttered. 

Remy and Emile drove him back to the other side of the park and dropped him off with a reminder that he could always call if he needed anything and that Emile really wanted a playdate.

“There you are!” Patton said relieved. “Logan still has your phone and we couldn’t find you anywhere!” 

“Sorry.” Thomas said.

“And you’re small? Oh Thomas what are we supposed to do with you?” Patton exclaimed, grabbing Thomas’ hand and dragging him back to where they had set up their picnic. 

“You found him!” Remus said, giving Thomas a hug. “Where were you?”

“I met another little.” Thomas said. 

“Really?” Remus said excited. “Do they want a playdate? Do they have a caregiver?” Remus asked quickly. 

Thomas answered the questions in a subdued tone. Remus and Patton looked at each other concerned. 

“What’s wrong kiddo?” Patton asked.

Thomas shrugged and looked away from them. He was silent as the others showed up each giving their own exclaimants of concern or worry. He teared up on the way home and sniffed a couple times. Thankfully no one commented on it. 

He locked himself in his room as soon as he was home. He hugged a giant teddy bear the twins had gotten for him. He wanted to go be taken care of. He wanted to tell them how he felt but...what if they told him he was right? That they only like Regressed him? 

A knock at the door. “Are you alright?” Virgil asked.

Thomas got up and opened the door. He crawled back in bed and let Virgil leave the door open. Virgil sat down on the bed next to him. “What’s going on?” 

“I don’t want you to hate me.” Thomas said. 

Virgil tilted his head confused. “Why would we hate you?” 

Thomas hid his face in the teddy bear. “Cuz you only like me when I’m little.” 

Virgil blinked, “What? Of course we don’t only like you when you’re little. You’re a great friend Thomas.” 

“No I’m not! I’m always so weird...and you only have time for little me.” Thomas said.

Virgil paused thinking. When had he hung out with grown up Thomas? Virgil pulled him into a hug. “How about we make sure we hang out more when you aren’t regressed ok?” 

Thomas agreed. 

\---

This was awkward. It was clear that Virgil and Thomas didn’t really have that much in common. It ended up Thomas regressed and Virgil was relieved that he knew how to handle that. Thomas felt worst than ever. He decided to call Remy. 

“Who’s this?” Remy asked.

“It’s Thomas...from the park.” Thomas said.

“Thomas! How are you kid?” Remy said voice brightening. 

“I’m..not great honestly. Can I talk to Emile?” Thomas asked.

“Sure. You want me to give you his number or do you want to meet up?” Remy offered.

Thomas was surprised. “Ummm both?” 

Remy laughed. “Sure thing kid.” They agreed to meet up at a cafe close to Thomas’ work. They planned to be there just after Thomas got off work.

\---

“Sorry I was late.” Emile said as Remy and Thomas were already there. “A session ran late.” 

“Session?” Thomas asked.

“Emile is a therapist.” remy said. Emile nodded. 

“Oh.” Thomas said. “That seems like a…” 

“Strange choice?” Emile offered. 

“No. Like a lot of work.” Thomas said. 

“It is. But I know that’s not why you wanted to meet up.” Emile said getting the conversation back on topic. 

“I wanted your advice.” Thomas said. 

“Shoot!” 

“I recently found that My caregivers prefer me little...In fact they don’t really like hanging out with me when I’m not regressed.” Thomas said. He noticed both Remy and Emile frown. “They even try and get me to regress when I’m not really in the mood and I’m not sure what to do.” 

“Have you talked to them about this?” Remy asked concerned.

“They just brush me off.” Thomas said frustrated. 

Emile hummed. “Maybe you need a third party to step in to help you communicate your issues.” 

“Do you know someone?”Thomas asked hopefully.

“I do. Very well in fact.” Emile said smiling.

“Wh-..it’s you isn’t it?” Thomas asked.

To his surprise Emile shook his head and turned towards Remy. Remy smiled at the shocked look on Thomas’ face. “Don’t worry I’ll help you get it all worked out.” 

They all agreed to meet up at the park where they met. This time Thomas was taking his caregivers with him. 

\---

Thomas was nervous and his caregivers could tell. “We can call this off if you don’t want to go.” Logan said for the fifth time. 

“I do! This needs to happen!” Thomas said firmly. 

They looked at each other confused. “I’m sure your friends won’t be that upset if you put it off.” Patton said.

Thomas shook his head and continued to lead them to the back of the park. Remy and Emile were sitting on the swings and Thomas visibly relaxed as soon as they were in sight. He took a deep breath. This was going to be ok. 

It was going to be ok.

\----

It took nearly two hours for the issue to be resolved. That Thomas felt smothered by them and that they didn’t care about him as a friend. They as soon as they really listened, were a bit ashamed that they made him feel like they only valued him for being little. 

“I’m sorry Thomas. I just wanted to make you feel safe and validated as yourself. I never thought that I might have taken that too far,” Logan said. 

“Thank you.” 

“So what do we do now?” Remus asked. 

“Do you want us to stop being your caregivers?” Janus asked.

“What? No! I just...maybe spend more time with me when I’m not regressed. We can go places and hang out without the expectation that I will Regress….if that’s ok.” Thomas said.

“Of course it is!” Patton said moving to hug Thomas before stopping. He wasn’t sure if hugging counted as babying. Thomas moved to hug him. 

They ended in a group hug thanks to Roman and Remus tackling them. 

“Now that that’s all finished.” Remy said as the hug broke apart. “Let’s-” He was cut off by Thomas hugging him. 

“Thank you.” 

Remy ruffled Thomas’ hair. “Anytime kid. Now Let’s all go get something to eat. I want to talk to all of you instead of yelling.” 

“You didn’t yell.” Emile said, “You firmly scolded.” 

Remy laughed as they all walked off. Thomas holding hands with Remus and Janus. Not because he was small but because he wanted to. He beamed the whole way to their cars. Maybe having six caregivers wasn’t a problem after all.


	187. Pink

Thomas ran down the hallway away from Janus. "Get back here!" Janus yelled at the little.

Thomas giggle screamed as he jumped down the stairs. He ducked behind the couch before Janus could see him. It was bath time and Thomas was NOT looking forward to it. 

"Thomas you need a bath!" Janus said as he walked down the stairs looking for him. Remus appeared behind the couch with Thomas. He put his finger to his lips and winked. Thomas covered his mouth to muffle his giggles.

"Hey Janjan!" Remus said popping up. 

"Thomas is behind the couch isn't he?" Janus asked drily. 

Remus blinked,"...maybe." Janus took a step towards the couch. "Run!" Remus yelled grabbing Thomas' hand and pulling him out from behind the couch and darted past Janus and up the stairs. 

"Remus he needs to get clean!" Janus yelled after them.

Thomas was so focused on not getting caught that he didn't notice that Remus had lead him right into the bathroom. Thomas gasped as Janus walked in behind them and closed the door.

"Trayal!" Thomas muttered as he started at Remus shocked. Remus laughed.

"It's bath time stinker." Remus ruffled Thomas' hair.

Thomas huffed and reaigned himself to his fate. 

\---

Janus tucked Thomas into bed freshly cleaned and dressed in PJs. It had been a long day for Thomas and Janus was pleased with how Thomas had asked if Janus would watch him while he regressed. He was proud of him for taking time for himself. 

"Sleep well, Thomas." Janus said brushing hair out of Thomas' face as the little drifted off to sleep.

"Sing?" Thomas asked.

Janus sighed before he smiled a little. "Of course." 

Janus barely finished the first verse before Thomas was out. 

\---

Thomas was nervous as he approached Janus. "Yes?" Janus asked without turning around.

Thomas cleared his throat. "Um  
..can I… I mean if it isn't a bother could you watch me for again?" 

Janus turned to look at Thomas. That wasn't what Thomas had wanted to ask. At least he shouldn't be that nervous to ask. They had been doing this for months now. He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Is that all?"

"Yes….ok no. I…" Thomas cleared his throat. "Couldyoubemycaregiver?" 

Janus blinked. "I... wasn't already?" Janus asked a bit confused. 

Thomas stared at him. "You are? Were? Ummm." 

"I mean that's my job." Janus said. Thomas slumped. 

"Oh...right." Thomas muttered.

Janus put a hand on his shoulder. "That doesn't mean I don't like caring for you. Or that I don't care about you." 

"Because it's your job." Thomas said.

"Because I care about you." Janus said firmly. He put a hand on Thomas' cheek. "Even if it wasn't my job I would still want to be your caregiver." 

Thomas smiled. "Really?" Clearly regressed.

"Really." Janus said pressing a kiss to Thomas' forehead.


	188. Red Christmas

Roman was decorating Pacis. Each one special for the others. They were going to be christmas presents. Each paci had an animal on them that matched a stuffie that he made for each of the others. The stuffies wore the others' favorite outfits. 

Patton got a light blue cat with a grey cardigan tied around its neck. Logan got a deep blue owl that had a tie. Virgil was a raccoon with a purple patchwork hoodie. Janus got a gold two headed snake with a caplet. Remus got a green octopus with a green sash. A tiny image of the stuffies was on the front of each of the colored pacis. 

Roman was rather proud of himself for this idea, he had spent weeks leading up to christmas making everything. He barely finished everything before christmas eve and just managed to get everything under the tree the day before. 

He was so excited about it that when christmas morning rolled around he regressed. 

“Wake up! it’s christmas!” He yelled at five am. Everyone was tired and a slight bit grumpy at the early wake up call. Roman didn’t let that bother him as he dragged everyone downstairs. 

“Come on! Come on Come on come on!” He bounced as every shuffled into the common room. 

Roman immediately handed out the gifts he had worked weeks on making. “Open them!” He said excited. There were tired mutters as the gifts were unwrapped.

And-

“Oh it’s….great.” Patton said smiling before he yawned. 

“Yup...super.” Virgil muttered not even taking the raccoon out of the box to look at it. Roman deflated as the others had similar reactions to their gifts. 

“You want to open your gifts?” Patton asked him. 

“..Not now.” Roman said subdued. 

Patton nodded, “Ok. Who’s hungry?” There was an upbeat murmur at the idea of food. 

“I’ll start the coffee.” Was the first thing Logan said all morning. Everyone left their presents sitting around the common room as they all left to get breakfast. Roman stayed in the common room looking around at the abandoned presents.

He guessed it wasn’t such a good idea after all. He sighed as he slipped back into his adult headspace. Just another thing he didn’t do right that he could add to the list. 

\---

It was mid afternoon before presents were brought up again. “Oh right. Those...things.” Virgil said as they saw the stuffies. 

“You can continue unwrapping gifts without me for a moment. I have something I need to finish up.” Roman lied halfheartedly. Janus looked at him but didn’t say anything. 

Everyone looked at their gifts again. This time not half asleep. “Is that...Is yours wearing a tie?” Patton asked. 

Logan smiled, “It seems so.” He pulled out the paci that was decorated with the owl. “This is…”

“Amazing!” Patton finished as he hugged his cat. 

“It’s excelute craftsmanship.” Janus said looking over the hand sewn stuffed snake. 

“Look it! It’s got a sash too!” Remus said holding his octopus up next to his chest. 

Virgil rubbed the squares that made up the racoon’s hoodie, each one was a different material and worked as a sensory toy. “Well now I feel bad about not getting him something better.”

“Where is Roman?” Logan asked. “He should be back soon.” 

\----

Roman was lying on his bed staring up at the ceiling. Just a couple more minutes and he would be strong enough to force a smile and not ruin the mood. Sure he’s presents had been a disappointment but the others were more thoughtful and their presents to each other were going to be great. Better than his.

He got up and opened the door jumping as he found Janus standing there. “Oh!”

“Are you alright?” Janus asked.

Roman smiled, “Of course! Let’s go down and continue with the festivities, yeah?” 

Janus frowned. “What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing is wrong.” Roman said firmly, as if saying it that way would cause it to be true. It was at that moment that he noticed Janus was holding the snake he made for him. His stomach sunk. Was he here to return it? Was it really that bad?

“Roman-”

“You know if you don’t like it you can just throw it away.” Roman said. 

Janus blinked confused. “What?” 

“The snake. I know It wasn’t my best work. So it’s ok if you want to get rid of it. Just...throw it out.” Roman said reaching for it. 

Janus hugged it to his chest and stepped back, “Why would I throw it out?” 

“I just said! It’s not a good gift!” Roman said angrily, mostly angry at himself.

“Roman, I love this.” Janus said honestly.

Roman paused, “Really?”

It hurt that he was so unsure about that. “Of course! It's clear that you put a lot of effect and thought into this.” 

Roman blinked, “Oh.”

Janus grabbed Roman’s hand and pulled him downstairs. As soon as Roman walked in he was bombarded by compliments and thanks. 

“It’s great!” 

“I love this!” 

“Maybe let us wake up first next time princy.” Virgil said, “I was way too tired to actually appreciate this.” 

Roman teared up. He blinked rapidly to get rid of the tears. “I’m glad you like it.” 

Patton gave him a hug which Remus joined and pulled Logan with him. Janus joined the group hug and gave Virgil a look. Virgil rolled his eyes before joining as well. 

Roman laughed. Proud of himself.


	189. Fruit fight.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ok...okokok. This one was really hard to write and so it is VERY short. I apologize about that. ;-;

If you asked whose idea it was they would all point to Remus. I mean having everyone dress up as food monsters and Roman has to fight them was a bit out there. Nevertheless, the caregiver did agree to it. Giving the littles all their own food based monster outfits. 

Patton was a spaghetti monster, Logan was an apple, Virgil was broccoli, Remus dressed as Deodorant ( Not a food), Janus was a pizza, Remy was a coffee bean. Emile being a caregiver opted out of dressing up and was helping Roman ‘hunt down’ all the loose food monsters.

It was rather like a strange game of hide and seek mixed with tag. Roman did purposefully lose and failed to ‘catch’ them a few times before it was clear that the littles were getting tired so he spun up the game. After all of them were caught and their costumes removed, Emile brought out snacks and set up a movie. 

Roman fell asleep on the couch and most of the littles soon followed. All cuddled up together on the couch. Emile took pictures.


	190. Call it normal part one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING UNSYMPATHETIC PATTON AND LOGAN.

It was after Virgil had begun hanging out with the light sides more that he noticed something about Roman that he didn’t expect. That the prince would act childish and his speech would be more childlike. Virgil knew what this was, he spent countless hours taking care of Remus when he was regressed so he wasn’t that surprised that Roman age regressed as well. 

What did surprise him was how the light sides reacted to it. Roman had only really half regressed before a stern look from Patton or Logan would snap him out of it. This had only really happened when they were working so Virgil assumed they had some rule about not regressing during work hours. A tad bit unhealthy to force Roman to stay out of his headspace if he was that stressed but Roman didn’t seem that upset about it so Virgil let it slid. 

Then he would walk past Roman when he had clearly been crying but brushed it off as nothing. Logan and Patton would be nearby and looking annoyed. Virgil wasn’t sure if they were making Roman cry or the prince was just being dramatic, but his gut feeling was telling him something was wrong. Very very wrong. 

He walked in on Patton full on yelling at a crying Roman. “-Why can’t you just be normal? Do you really think this is ok?”

“Sowwy.” Roman whimpered Virgil was shocked that Patton was yelling at Roman, let alone yelling at the clearly regressed little. 

Patton shook him. Actually put his hands on Roman’s upper arms and shook the little. “Cut it out!” 

Virgil pushed Patton off him before putting an arm protectively around Roman. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“He’s doing that...that thing again! He needs to cut it out!” Patton said disgusted. 

Virgil saw red. “No he doesn’t! He needs to be given a safe space to regress. Not..this!” 

Logan walked in and took one look at Roman before scowling. “Virgil please don’t encourage this! We have a hard enough time getting Roman to behave as is.” 

“Behave?” Virgil echoed as Roman whimpered, shrinking in on himself. 

“Sowwy.” 

“It’s pronounced Sorry. And if you were really sorry you would stop doing this!” Logan snapped causing Roman to cry harder. 

Virgil tightened his grip on Roman and sunk out to the first place he thought of. The dark side.

\---

Janus didn’t expect to see Virgil again so soon. Or at all. At least not back home. He sensed him come in and walked out to the living room to give him a piece of his mind for leaving when he saw Virgil kneeling in front of the couch whispering to a sobbing Roman who was curled up on the couch. 

He could hear Roman apologizing in small speak from here and was immediately in caregiver mode. “What happened?” He asked softly. Roman looked up at Janus terrified and started shaking and apologizing faster. 

Virgil was seething. “They,” He spit the word out, “have been...I don’t know a strong enough word for it. They haven’t been letting him regress, even going so far as to yell at and insult him when he does.” 

“What?” Janus’ voice came out flat and angry. Roman shrunk in on himself more. Janus softened his face and tone. He didn’t want to scare the little any more. “I’m not mad at you sweetheart.” He hoped the pet name would help get his point across.

Roman closed his eyes tightly and started muttering to himself. Janus had to step closer to hear what he was saying. He didn’t like what he heard.

“Snap out it. Dumb brain. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.” 

“You aren’t stupid.” Virgil said softly as he put a hand on Roman’s shoulder. The little jerked away from the touch and Janus felt his heart break. What all had those two done to him?

“What’s up fuckers?” Remus yelled as he entered the room causing Roman to cry out in fear. Remus paused, stunned that his brother was here. “What’s up with him?” 

“Turns out you aren’t the only one that regresses.” Janus said crossing his arms.

“No shit?” Remus said. “Why’s he here though? Shouldn’t Patty cake and nerdy be taking care of him?” 

“Don’t mention them.” Virgil said in his tempest voice before he took a deep breath. 

Remus’ eyes widened. He looked to Janus for an explanation. “We’ll talk more later. Right now we need to calm him down.”

\---

It took them a couple hours to calm Roman down. By then he had managed to pull himself out of his headspace and began to panic about running away from Patton and Logan. “They’re going to be so mad! I’m not supposed to leave until they’re sure I’m not being a freak anymore.”

“You are not a freak!” Virgil hissed. 

“What else is this? I just became an idiot and that’s perfectly normal?” Roman scoffed.

Virgil, Remus and Janus all looked at each other. “Do..do you really not know?” 

“Know what?” Roman demanded.

“That you age regress. It’s a coping method.” Virgil explained putting a hand on Roman’s shoulder for comfort. Roman didn’t flinch away.

“It-it is?” Roman asked his voice weak. 

“I do It all the time! Get a bit of a break from all the blood and gory.” Remus said.

“What he means is, it is healthy and nothing that you should be ashamed of and certainly not punished for.” Janus said, keeping the growl out of his voice at the word punished. 

Roman looked at the clock and paled. “I need to get back. They are going to be mad if I don’t get back.” 

“You can’t go back.” Remus said. “Are you stupid?”

Roman shrunk in on himself again. Virgil shot Remus a glare. “He isn’t stupid. But we aren’t going back. We’re staying here. They can’t hurt you here.” 

“But...They’re going to be so mad if I don’t go back. They’re already mad. I can’t let it get worse!” Roman said panic growing.

“Calm.” Janus said putting a hand on Roman’s other shoulder. “We will protect you. Even if you decide to go back Remus and I will go with you.” Remus summoned his morning star. “But it will be easier if you stay here.” 

Roman looked conflicted. “I...I don’t know.” 

“Just stay the night.” Virgil pleaded. “We can talk more about it in the morning.” 

Roman reluctantly agreed. The three dark sides relaxed. “How about some supper?” Janus asked standing up from the couch. 

“Oh! I know Let’s eat-” 

“No.” 

“I didn’t even say anything yet.” Remus whined.

“The answer is still no.” Janus said as he walked off Remus trailing behind him. 

Virgil pulled Roman into a one armed hug. “We’ve got you.” 

Roman didn’t answer.

They set him up on the couch, he was out within seconds of laying down. 

In the morning when they woke up he was gone.


	191. Call it normal part two

Roman sat on the couch in the Light sides listening as Patton and Logan yelled at him. 

“-You will NOT do that again!” Patton yelled.

“Ok.” Roman said weakly. 

Patton nodded. Good. They had to drag Roman back after Virgil took him. He never expected Virgil to do something like that. He was sure that they would be able to explain to Virgil that this was a bad thing and that he shouldn’t do that again. They were helping Roman be better. 

Afterall he couldn’t end up like his brother could he?

\---

“Ah shit!” Virgil cursed before he was almost knocking down Janus’ door. 

“Why are you-” Janus said grumpy at the rude awakening. 

“Roman is gone and it looks like he didn’t leave on his own.” Virgil blurted out.

Janus was wide awake and grabbing his day clothes. A string of curses leaving his mouth before, “Get Remus.”

Virgil nodded once before going to wake up Remus. “Get up! Your brother is missing!”

Remus burst through the door naked with his morning star in hand. “God! Put some pants on!” Virgil snapped.

“No time!” Remus snapped back. 

Virgil waved his hands and Remus was dressed. The duke was so focused on Roman being gone that he didn’t even notice. It was always uncomfortable to have clothing summoned on to one's body. Which is why they didn’t do it unless necessary.   
They all rose up into the light side and interrupted a very normal looking breakfast. Logan and Patton looked unimpressed, Roman avoided everyone’s eyes. He stared down at the empty spot in front of him. Logan and Patton both had food. 

“Are you kidding me? You aren’t even feeding him?” Remus growled.

Patton spoke to Janus completely ignoring Remus. “You don’t belong here.”

“Neither does Roman if you are going to mistreat him.” Janus shot back.

“WE are not mistreating him! We are HELPING him!” Patton said.

Virgil blinked, “What?” 

“Virgil you have to see that having another Remus is a bad thing! WE need to make sure that Roman stays GOOD.” Patton said.

“Him sharing even this...problem with Remus indicates a possibility of him becoming corrupt.” Logan said as if this made any sense.

“You’re both insane!” Virgil snapped. “Come on Roman Let’s go.” 

“Roman! Stay where you are!” Patton snapped at the prince as he started to move. Roman froze and looked between Virgil and Patton.

“Roman come on!” 

“Roman stop!”

“Roman!” 

“Roman!” 

Roman covered his ears as he dropped. He whimpered. “Loud.” He muttered. 

“Look what you’ve done! He was doing well!” Logan snapped. 

Remus pushed past Patton and grabbed Roman. Roman fought against his grasp behind him and realized who was holding him. Then he surprised everyone by clinging to Remus and hiding his face in Remus’ chest.

Logan grabbed Roman’s arm to try and pull him away from Remus. Remus bit him. He snarled at Logan before picking Roman up and cradling him to his chest. He backed up behind Virgil and Janus. “We’re taking him. You two are not welcome. If you try this again we won’t be so kind.” 

“He doesn’t belong with you!” Patton yelled. “You can’t do this! Virgil please! Think about what this will do for thomas!”

“I am. He needs Roman to be healthy and he won’t be with you two.” Virgil spat at them before they sunk out. Janus locked Patton and Logan out just in case. 

He couldn’t stop Thomas from summoning Roman or Virgil but he would be there if that happened. He was not letting Patton or Logan near them. 

Remus sat down on the couch with Roman and let him cry on his shoulder. “It’s ok. You’re safe now.” 

“I don’t means it!” Roman whimpered. 

“It’s ok. You can be little now.” Remus said. 

“I’m bad!” Roman said.

“No. You’re good. I promise.” Remus said, tightening his grip on him. 

Virgil and Janus looked at each other. It would take time but they would show him.

\---

It took nearly two months to get Roman to feel safe when in littlespace. He sat playing with Remus on the floor in the living room, both of them making things with play-doh on the coffee table. 

“So dat’s why you can’t eats it!” Roman said firmly to his brother.

Remus nodded around a mouthful of play-doh. “Oh.” He took another bite.

“Nooooo!” Roman whined.

Janus stepped in. “Roman it’s ok. I made it special so you can eat it. Remember?” 

Roman wrinkled his nose. “Still not taste good.” 

Remus laughed. “Says you!” 

Roman stuck his tongue out at Remus. Virgil watched from the doorway. Not a day goes by where Logan or Patton try and get Roman back. He knows one day they are going to break through. But he also knows that they will be ready for them. Roman won’t be going back. 

Not again. Not ever.

He’s safe now.


	192. Remus was alone

Remus was alone

And that was fine!

He could pop up anytime he wanted. Of course no one else wanted him there. Not even Janus. Not since he had that argument with him. He had been trying too hard to get him to stay and he ended up pushing him away further. Janus screamed at him, telling him that he was done with dealing with all of Remus’ shit and told him to leave him alone. 

That was a month ago and not once had Janus or anyone else shown up to check on him. He had regressed alone for the first time in years and the experience was so bitter and painful that Remus swear he wasn’t going to do that again. 

That was until he accidentally tripped and fell into the door to Janus’ room and it opened. He spotted his backup paci on Janus’ nightstand and he dropped. He cried as he grabbed the paci and crawled into Janus’ bed. He curled up in the mound of pillows that Janus kept on his bed. He pressed his face into the pillow he held to his chest and for a second was able to pretend that Janus was still there. He let himself smell the pillow and cry over how the smell of Janus had faded. Even that was leaving him.

He strained the pillow with purple eyeshadow as he sobbed his broken heart out till he passed out. He dreamt that Janus was still there. That he still had his caregiver and everything was fine. 

Then he woke up alone. The smell of Janus completely gone, replaced by his own smell. He would have cried again if he had any tears left. Instead he got up and made the bed just like he found it. He set the paci on the nightstand as if Janus would need to grab it to sooth him again. 

He could pretend that Janus was going to come back and be there for him. That Janus would be there to softly scowl him for entering his room without asking before realizing that he was small and open his arms for a hug. Cradle him to his chest and sing softly until Remus fell asleep. That Remus would wake up in Janus’ arms and be carried to the kitchen for a post nap snack. 

He could pretend that waiting by the door would lead to Janus coming back. That he would rant about his day before playing a game with Remus or just sitting and listening as Remus rambled and babbled (Depending on his age.)

He could pretend that he wasn’t going to always be alone. He waited until Janus came back at any moment. 

Remus was alone.


	193. Blue baby

Patton listened to Logan talk about something that he couldn’t understand but he tried to. God did he try to understand it. He didn’t want to believe that he was a dumb as everyone said but some days it sure felt like it. Logan stopped speaking all of a sudden. “You have no idea what I’m talking about do you?” 

Patton wanted to say yes so badly. But lying as bad. “Nope.” He tried to put some pep in his voice. 

Logan sighed. “Of course. I shouldn't have expected you to.” Patton deflated a little as Logan stood and walked off to find someone who actually had two brain cells. 

Patton teared up and he sniffed before angrily rubbing the tears from his eyes. Stupid to cry over being stupid. He just had to accept that he was dumb and that wasn’t going to change. 

Then he started to drop. He began to panic. No! He was already dumb as it was. If any of the others found out he regresses…. He bolted past Roman who was in the middle of asking if Patton was alright. 

He slammed his door shut startling Virgil who just stepped out of his room. “Pat?” He knocked on the closed door. “You ok?” 

“Go away please.” Patton whimpered already sounding younger. Shoot! He was shrinking down to his mental age this time? No! This was the worst time for that!

“You’re sounding a little off there pops.” Virgil commented. 

Patton burst out crying and hid under his covers. He was crying loud enough that he didn’t hear the door open and two sets of footsteps walked in. The covers were pulled back and Roman and Virgil stared shocked for a second before Roman picked him up. 

“Hey it’s ok.” Roman said holding the emotional side and rocking him slightly. 

“No! I stupid!” Patton protested.

Virgil and Roman shared a look. “Of course you aren’t stupid!” Virgil said.

“Who told you that?” Roman asked.

“I just knows.” Patton said before sticking his fingers in his mouth. Roman summoned a teether and gave it to the toddler. 

Patton chewed on. Virgil reached over and rubbed Patton’s back. “You are not dumb buddy. Not bog or when you regress.” 

Patton gasped. “How you know bout that?” He demanded.

Roman laughed a little. “It’s pretty easy to figure out.” 

Patton pouted. Roman planted a kiss on the top of his head. “It’s ok. No one is going to judge you.” 

Patton continued chewing on the teether. He hummed. “Ok.” 

As they promised no one was angry. If anything they were very understanding and welcomed this new development. Patton was confused by how even Logan seemed to accept this. “But...I’m stupid?” 

Everyone froze. Logan who was holding Patton hugged him. “No. You aren’t stupid. You’re very smart in fact. Emotionally smart.”

“Smart?” Patton echoed not quite believing it. 

“Smart.” Logan agreed. 

Patton snuggled against him. 

Smart….huh.


	194. Blue christmas

Patton was just about to drop. He had been baking for hours after spending hours before that decorating with Logan. They had wanted to make sure that the holiday was perfect for everyone and were working together to do that. A perfect balance of emotion and logic. 

At least that was what was supposed to happen. Instead the others were watching concerned at two very very tried sides. Logan was making sure that was the presents were sorted but also stacked in ways that were pleasant to look at so no two presents that had the same wrapping paper were next to each other. Patton was pulling out the 30th tray of cookies from the oven when he bumped the pan with his bare arm and he dropped, both the tray and his headspace.

He wailed as he spilled cookies across the floor and his arm hurt! And he was tired! And and- 

“Shhh it’s ok. I’ve got you!” Janus said rubbing burn cream on the small wound. Patton whimpered before hiding his face in Janus’ shoulder. Janus put his arms around him and rocked him side to side as Roman and Remus cleaned up the cookie mess. Roman was picking up the cookies and Remus was just eating them right off the floor. Janus rolled his eyes. Looked like Remus would be getting his own batch.

Logan walked in, “What happened?” 

“Pat got a little burned.” Virgil said. 

“It’s fine.” Janus said knowing that if they focused on the injury it would just stick with the little longer. 

“He appears to have regressed as well.” Logan observed. 

Roman noticed the way that Logan seem to sway slightly on his feet and moved over taking his arm and leading him into the living room. “How about you help me pick out a christmas movie to watch to calm Patton down?”

It was a simple task. One that if Roman played his cards right he could help get Logan to relax into his younger headspace and give himself a well deserved break. 

“That sounds….acceptable.” Logan yawned in the middle of talking. 

It didn’t take long for them to pick out, ‘The year without a santa claus’ and start it. Janus lead Patton to sit on the couch next to Logan and smiled as the two immediately cuddle up together. Logan dropping into his older brother headspace. 

Roman made hot chocolate for them, putting Patton and Logan’s in sippy cups made sure it was only a bit warm (not hot enough to burn them) and brought the tray of drinks in as the everyone else was settling in to watch the movie. He passed out the drinks. Noticing that Patton had started sucking on his thumb and was eager to switch it for the drink. Logan dropped further as he took a drink from the sippy. 

Roman and Janus sat on either side of the littles making sure that they knew they could relax and be little. 

In the end it was perfect. Just not in the way they had planned.


	195. Remus was alone, Logan ending.

Logan stormed off as he was ignored...again! He wandered off until he reached the dark side doorway. He didn’t even pause before storming in. 

Within seconds of him walking in Remus appeared. Logan expected him to yell at him to leave, or made some gross comment. What he didn’t expect was for him to look at him with excitement that faded into disappointment and...tears?

Remus sobbed as he hugged himself and sunk to the ground. He cried quietly, all snot and tears. Logan was shocked for a second before stepping closer to see if he could perhaps comfort the duke. He knelt down next to Remus and was again surprised by the way that Remus threw himself into Logan’s lap.

“He’s gone.” Remus whimpered, his voice rough. Lack of speaking? Logan hugged him a strong surge of protectiveness washed over him. Sure Remus and he didn’t see eye to eye but he didn’t hate him. 

“Who is?” Logan asked. He figured he was either speaking about Janus or Virgil, but he wanted to be sure.

“Deedee. He-he promised he won’t leave me.” Remus rasped. Logan pulled back to look at the chaotic side better when Remus’ fists gripped his shirt and he spoke in a panic. “Don’t leave!”

Logan tightened his grip. He lean his chin in the top of Remus’ head. “I’m not going anywhere.” Honestly why would he go back?

“Please...stay.” 

“I will.” 

\---

Logan figured out that Remus regressed quickly and he offered to be his caregiver. Remus tackled him in a hug at that. They quickly fell into a routine. Logan took up residence in a room that Remus made for him. The ceiling looked like space while the floor looked like you were walking in the middle of the ocean. 

Remus made the bed extra large. At first it was something that confused the logical side that was until he woke up one night to a regressed Remus who had a nightmare. He offered Remus to sleep next to him and Remus immediately curled up against Logan's chest. 

“Sing?” Remus asked half asleep already.

Who was Logan to refuse? He sang softly until he was sure that Remus was asleep before drifting off himself. 

It turned out that storming out was the best thing Logan had done in years. Remus listened to him and even added his own interesting take on things. Logan did the same thing for the dark creativity. As Logan read a story out loud to Remus, the little curled up against his side a paci in his mouth, he realized he felt more at home than he had in years. He paused the story to press a kiss to the top of the duke’s head causing him to giggle. 

Logan smiled. As long as he had anything to say about it, Remus wouldn’t be alone again.


	196. Remus was alone Virgil ending .

Virgil had another fight with Roman and decided that he needed some space. He went back to his old room and on the way found Remus. “I’m not in the mood for-” 

Remus was...crying. He looked up at Virgil and Virgil could tell he was regressed. Well shit! Where was Janus? There was no way that he was leaving Remus to handle this by himself right?

Virgil pulled Remus into a hug before he gagged at the smell. Of course he hadn’t bathed. “Time for a bubble bath.” 

“Noooo.” Remus said half heartedly.

Virgil chuckled and picked him put taking him to the bathroom. He got him in the bath was little complaint. After a bit Remus was smiling again as he slashed around in the tub. “Hey, when was the last time you saw Dee?”

Remus froze before his lower lip tumbled and he started crying again. “I dunno. He not come back.”

“At all?” Virgil asked, angry. Even he came back to see Remus after being accepted. Mostly when the little had asked for him. 

Remus shook his head and cried harder. Virgil hugged him ignoring how he was getting his shirt wet. Remus clung to him crying for awhile before yawning and rubbing at his eyes. “Nap time buddy.” 

Remus hummed and climbed out of the tub. Once he was all dressed in fluffy pjs Virgil took him to bed and tucked him in. He was just about to go give Janus a piece of his mind when Remus grabbed his sleeve, “Stay?” 

Virgil knew it would break the little to leave now. He sat down on the bed and let Remus curl up next to him. “Of course trash raccoon.” 

Remus giggled at the nickname. “Sing?” 

Virgil bit his lip before he started to hum. It wasn’t really singing but Remus didn’t protest and soon he drifted off to sleep. Virgil petted Remus’ hair in his sleep as his mind drifted. He was going to have words with Janus later. But for now he would stay. 

Remus wasn’t going to wake up alone. Remus wasn’t going to be alone. 

Not anymore.


	197. It's better this way.

Roman watched as Patton was taking care of Virgil. Ever since he showed up his caregiver had been spending less and less time with him, and more and more with Virgil.

"Not now Roman." Patton said not even looking away from the little in his lap. 

Roman dropped his stuffie and ran off to his room. Of course. Patton never had time for him anymore. 

He didn't expect a knock at his door, he hoped it would be Patton and was disappointed when it was Janus instead. 

"I noticed you dropped this." Janus said holding out the teddy bear. 

Roman looked at it. A gift from patton. "I don't want it anymore." He took it and tossed it into the corner of his room.

Janus eyed him. "Are you small right now?"

"Who cares." Roman replied curling up on his bed. Janus sat down next to him. He started running a hand through Roman's hair in a form of comfort.

"I'm here." Janus said as Roman sniffled before throwing himself into Janus' arms bailing his eyes out.

"Why wasn't i good enough for him?" He asked.

Janus couldn't answer that.

\---

Janus was comforting an upset Roman who had been yelled at for upsetting virgil. Ñevermind that Virgil had been insulting Roman all afternoon and he was merely defending himself. No. Virgil Patton's baby so he could do whatever he wanted.

"Stupid." Roman muttered. 

"You aren't stupid bug." Janus said firmly. 

"Promise you won't leave?" Roman asked.

Janus tightened his grip on the little. Maybe Patton didn't want him anymore but Janus did. He was never going to hurt him or let him be hurt. Not anymore. "Never." He promised.

It was better this way.


	198. Emotionless.

The others had been pushing Logan, mocking him for his shows of emotion. Joked about him being a robot. So he removed his emotions. He didn't need them. In fact. He could finally think and see clearly.

"Is that what you really think of this?" Remus asked holding his stuffed octopus to his chest. He stared at Logan, His caregiver in shock.

"Of course. You don't really need to cope so this whole thing is rather pointless." Logan said robotically. 

Remus started tearing up. "If you insist on acting with emotion I need you to leave." Logan said sharply. Remus nodded stiffly before spinning on his heels and running off. He ran into Roman who glared at him and started to speak before he really took in the state Remus was in.

"Hey. Feeling little squid?" Roman asked softly brushing the hair from his brother's eyes.

Remus sobbed and hugged him. "Lo...he-he said I was... Poinness and to leave!" 

"What?" Roman asked shocked. Sure Logan was acting all distant and aloof with everyone but he would never hurt Remus! 

But the sobbing little in his arms said otherwise. Roman took him back to his room to try and get him to calm down. 

He tucked Remus in for a nap before he stormed off to talk to Logan. He almost knocked the door down. "What?" Logan asked flatly.

"You need to take care of Remus. You hurt him." Roman said crossing his arms.

"No. I do not. He doesn't need to regress and thus does not require my assistance." Logan said bluntly.

"Wha- are you kidding me? You are the one who said he needed to regress!" Roman yelled.

"And clearly It was just one of the many errors I made while in a compromised state due to...emotions." Logan said.

"Logan..." Roman reached out towards his friend.

"I believe you should go handle Remus. I have work to get back to." Logan said brushing him off and closing him out. 

\----

Roman took over taking care of Remus after that. Remus refused to call Roman his caregiver. That was Logan and he was sure Logan would snap out of his 'funk' and go back to being the person Remus knew and loved.

Roman didn't have the heart to argue with him, hoping that his friend wasn't as far gone as they all believed. Still as the weeks passed with no sign of emotion from Logan Roman's hope faded. 

Remus kept trying to talk to Logan in and out of little space only to be brushed aside or ignored. It hurt Roman and the others to watch these interactions. Yo see that glimmer of hope die just a little more after every failed attempt to get their Logan back.

Remus crawled into bed next to Roman in the middle of the night. He curled up against his brother. "He's not coming back is he?" Remus whispered.

Roman hugged him. "No." He answered honestly. "I don't think he is." 

Remus nodded stiffly, the remains of his hope dying. 

\---

"Hey...Lo?" Remus asked little. 

Logan looked at him. His heart seemed to want to feel something at the way Remus was so hesitant and afraid. "Yes?' 

"I...um...I wanted to say. Thank you?" Remus said. He held out a card. "For being my caregiver and friend for so long. I know you don't wanna be friends or anything anymore but.... Thanks for being there for me for so long." 

Logan opened the card as Remus walked away. His heart felt painfully tight in his chest. It was a picture of him and Remus. He didn't notice he was crying until a tear hit the paper.

What had he done?

\----

Logan approached Remus after supper. "Remus?" 

Remus jumped in surprise before his eyes landed on the cars in Logan's hand. He hadn't been able to let go of it since be got it. Remus looked heartbroken. "You don't have to give it back. Just throw it away if you don't want it."

Logan cursed himself. He did the whole thing he could think of and reached forward hugging Remus. "I am so so sorry. I thought I would be better without emotions. I was wrong."

"Really?" Remus asked hope rising.

"I am never doing that again and I am so sorry that I hurt you. Hurt everyone." Logan said. "I know it's going to take time for you all to trust me again but-"

Remus tightened his grip cutting Logan off. "Yous back!" He giggled happily. 

Logan smiled. "I'm back buddy. And I'm never leaving again. Thank you for saving me."

Remus hugged him tighter and Logan had to pull back to breath. Remus giggled. 

Emotions weren't all bad.


	199. Baby forever. WARNING DARK.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Very creepy Patton.

Remus giggled as he sat on Patton’s lap, the father figure tickling him. “Papa st-stop!” He said batting the hands away from his sides. Patton stopped tickling him to hug him to his chest. Remus was the size and mental age of a five year old. He was just so cute like this! A bonus was that he didn’t bother Thomas at all while he was little! He was just an adorable little kiddo. One that Patton never wanted to let go of!

“Awww. What’s my little boy want to do now mm?” Patton asked, leaning his head to the side so he could see Remus’ sleepy face. “Oh no. Is someone sleepy already?” Patton said, a bit disappointed. Remus always woke up no longer regressed and he had barely been regressed for three hours. 

Remus rubbed his eyes, “Yeh.” He said leaning back against Patton’s chest as his eyes slid shut. Patton sighed. He hated to let his sweet boy go back to being well...Remus. So he held him as he slept trying to get just a little bit longer with him. 

\----

Patton watched as Remus stirred, waking up still little. “Papa?” Remus asked, confused. He never woke up small. 

“Yes kiddo?” Patton asked.

“Why still small?” Remus asked.

Patton wasn’t sure, “I guess you just need to be little longer today.” He guessed, his mind running with possibilities. 

Remus accepted that easily. “Ok. Can I have a snack?” 

Patton beamed at him and stood up still holding the little. “Of course! Come on! Let’s get you some cookies and chocolate milk!” 

“Yay!” 

Patton set Remus at the table next to Logan and gave him three cookies and some chocolate milk in his sippy. He gave them to the little and watched as Remus got a little younger. That was...interesting. 

“Hey Logan,” Patton said in a distant voice. “Do you think we could talk in the other room for a minute?” 

“Of course?” Logan said standing. Remus looked up, panicked at the idea of not just one but both of his caregivers leaving him alone. 

“Don’t worry,” Patton said quickly, “We’ll be just in the other room. You’ll still be able to see us. We just have to talk about big stuff for a minute.” 

Remus nodded and went back to his snack, “So what do you need?” Logan asked as they were out of ear shot. 

“I was wondering why Remus is still small right now, I mean he normally is bigger after his naps.” Patton said. 

Logan pondered it for a moment. “Well you were holding him as he slept, perhaps that caused him to still feel small even while asleep.”

“So if he feels little while sleeping he’ll stay little.” Patton confirmed.

Logan looked at Patton with an odd expression. “What are you thinking?” 

“Well I just noticed that when he’s little he doesn’t bother Thomas so if there was a way to keep him little-”

“No.” Logan said firmly.

“No?” Patton asked, blinking in surprise.

“Patton you can’t force Remus to stay little.” Logan said.

“Not even if it helps Thomas?” Patton asked, crossing his arms.

Logan hesitated. “Thomas can handle his intrusive thoughts; we don’t have to intervene.” 

“But you’ve said it yourself, you work better when Remus isn’t there as a distraction.” Patton said, trying to sway the Logical side. He needed Logan’s help to figure out how to keep his baby small and precious. 

Logan adjusted his glasses and looked in at Remus who was watching him and beamed when he saw Logan looking. Remus waved with all the carefree innocence of a child. It’s true that he got more work done when Remus wasn’t popping up every few minutes with a distraction. 

“Alright. We can try it.” Logan said giving in. 

Patton patted Logan’s shoulder and a spike of guilt stabbed him in the gut. He shook it off. This was the right thing to do. After all Patton was morality. He wouldn’t do something immoral..Right?

Logan watched as Remus giggled as Patton wiped crumbs from the little’s face. Remus was happier like this. He even admitted that he preferred to be regressed so they weren’t really forcing him into this. Just...helping him stay there.

It was going to be fine.

\---

Patton was always with Remus after that. The little never left his side. He was constantly being held and babied. Remus was regressing a little bit younger everyday. He’s grip on his thoughts slipping away until he was nearly mindless. 

Patton coo’d at the infant that was curled up against his chest. He had Remus bundled up in a baby blanket as the baby babbled around his paci, his hands playing with the sleeves of Patton’s cardigan. 

Roman froze at the bottom of the stairs as he saw Patton and his brother for the first time in a week. “Is that Remus? Why is he so young?” 

“Oh. He’s just felt comfortable to regress to his youngest age.” Patton said lightly. “Would you like to hold him?” Patton didn’t want to give up his baby boy but he needed the others to agree with him that Remus was better little. Besides, there were going to be times when he and Logan were busy and he was going to need someone to watch and make sure Remus stayed small.

Roman carefully took his brother and smiled as Remus babbled up at him waving his hands. “Well he is cute like this. I’d almost hate to see him go back to normal.” 

Patton was ecstatic to hear that. “That’s not even the best part.” It was in his mind but it wasn’t the selling point he would give to the others. They might disagree with Patton keeping Remus like this just because he wanted to, but if it was good for Thomas? How could they argue with that?

“What’s that?” Roman asked, looking up frowning.

“Has Remus been a problem lately?” Patton asked.

“Um...no?” Roman said before blinking. “Wait. Has he been regressed this WHOLE TIME?” Remus cried at the loud noise. Patton quickly snatched him back. Roman stared at Patton in growing horror. “Pat we need to snap him out of this!”

“Why?” Patton asked. “It’s better like this.” He said firmly. This wasn’t working; he needed a new angle. “Who’s morality here?” Patton asked as Remus calmed.

“What? Umm… You? But what does that have to do with-” 

“So if i think this is the right thing to do, wouldn’t it was wrong to argue with me?” Patton asked raising an eyebrow. 

“Well you have been wrong before.” Roman said. Patton glared at him so fiercely that Roman began backtracking. “Of course if you really believe this is the right thing to do…” 

Roman shifted uncomfortably under Patton’s smile. It felt wrong to agree with this. To let Remus just…

“You know. I think we should ask Thomas how he feels about it.” Patton said playing his best card. He knew how Thomas felt about it because it’s how he felt about it. 

\---

“I agree.” Thomas said after Patton gave his little argument about why they should keep Remus little. They didn’t invite Janus. No need for the snake to be involved. He was going to fight for Remus to be allowed to be nasty again. Just for the sake of their friendship. 

Virgil was staring at Remus. “I...I guess that makes sense?” He hunched his shoulders. This whole thing felt off to him….But he felt off about a lot of things. Plus Remus was nicer this way. Patton thought it was the right thing to do, so did Logan. And Thomas. And Roman. 

“Great!” Patton said beaming. Remus was asleep in his arms. This had been so much easier than he had feared. Now as long as Janus didn’t-

“So that’s where Remus isn’t.” Janus said.

-Do that.

“Oh. Janus! Great of you to make it!” Patton said internally cursing. His grip on HIS baby tightened just a smidge. Janus was not going to be taking him. 

Janus looked around at everyone in the room. “Everyone is just dying to let this happen.” He said sarcastically. 

Logan and Roman shifted awkwardly. Thomas cleared his throat. “So as Patton said-”

“I heard.” Janus said sharply. He looked Patton up and down his eyes narrowed as he took in how protective? No, possessively He held Remus. “You know he doesn’t have things to do.” 

“Like making Thomas miserable. We’re aware.” Patton snapped. 

The two glared at each other.

“Hand him over.” Janus commanded.

“No.” Patton shot back. He tightened his grip again waking up Remus who started whimpering. 

“You are hurting him!” Janus said concerned. 

“I am not!” Patton snapped.

“Padre you should ease your grip a little.” Roman said putting a hand on Patton’s arms where they tightened around the baby.

Patton took a breath and the concern on Roman’s face. He eased up his hold a little. “I think we’re done here.” 

“No-” Janus started.

“This conversion is over.” Patton said sharper than he had ever spoken before. Remus whimpered. Patton blinked before comforting his baby. “Hey no it’s ok. No need to cry.” 

“Patton I don’t think your relationship with Remus is healthy.” Logan spoke up. 

Patton stared at Logan betrayed. 

“I think we should ask what Remus wants.” Virgil spoke up. 

“I second that.” Roman said. 

No! Nononono! They can’t take his baby away! They won’t! Thomas looked at him oddly. “Patton. I need you to give me Remus.” 

Patton reluctantly handed the infant over. They had to see this was the wrong thing to do! They had to! Patton sunk out. He felt empty. Hollow without his kiddo with him.

Thomas looked around at everyone else. “How do we get him back to normal?”

\---

Remus was quiet as he sat on the couch everyone standing around him. He couldn’t really remember much except for the fact that his mind was empty and he was with Patton and he felt safe. Safe and warm and loved. 

It terrified him. He needed to do that again. 

“Well? What do you think?” Roman asked. 

Remus looked up at all of them, they were all concerned. “I want to go back to Patton please.” He said softly. 

Janus blinked in shock. “What? Remus no!” 

“We did ask what he wanted.” Logan said feeling a bit bad for doubting Patton now. 

“Well that settles it then.” Thomas said relieved that he was going to really have to deal with Remus anymore. 

Remus smiled shyly before sinking out. Janus stared at the spot he had been sitting in. No. Something about this was wrong. 

\---  
Patton hugged his boy ecstatic that he came back to him. He thought for sure he had lost him. But he was. Safe. In his arms. 

Right where he belonged.


	200. Little soldier boy.

Roman liked playing battle games. Leading his 'men' (a bunch of stuffies) against whomever was playing the monster of villain of the day. The goal was to defeat the other with tickles. Having enchanted stuffies helped give Roman an edge so he rarely lost. He would still ended up being tickled though.

Today's monster was Remus as a sea creature. With tentacles and he had honestly looked a lot like a twisted version of Ursula from the little mermaid. 

The 'battle' lasted a few minutes before Remus managed to tackle his brother and tucked him. "Ha! I win!" Remus yelled caused all the enchantments and illusions to fade away leaving only the Little and him.

"Re-re-eeeeee.... St-st-stop!" Roman giggled.

Remus pulled away and was immediately met with a shocked and betrayed face. "You told me to stop ya little stinker."

"I didn't really want you to stop." Roman pouted. Remus rolled his eyes. Roman had to work on saying what he really wanted.

Remus started tickling him again anyway. Roman giggled as he wiggled around. Remus only tickled him in short bursts to make sure he could still breath. He really didn't want Patton and Janus to yell at him for that mistake....a third time.

"Alright. I think little soldier boy deserves a treat for fighting so well." Remus said helping is brother to his feet.

"Ice cream!" Roman said excited.

"And sprinkles?" Remus offered knowing he couldn't suggest non foods when Roman was little as it upset him. 

Roman started bouncing. "Yeah!" Remus took his hand and led him into the kitchen for some ice cream.


	201. Movie night.

Remus was excited that he had been invited for movie night. He wasn't just going to have to show up anyway, no they invited him! They wanted him around! He was going to get snacks, and maybe even some cuddles if he behaved.

He showered twice just to be sure he was clean and wore a t-shirt with sweatpants. No one wanted to hug him if he was naked. He learned that from before. 

It wasn't until he showed up and Janus looked at him concerned that he noticed the problem. He was regressed. And the others didn't know. Not even Virge knew since he started after he left.

"Are you sure you want to do this? We can postpone." He muttered. The little looked at him horrified at the suggestion.

"No! I gonna be here! I got clean and everything!' Remus said stubbornly. Loud enough that the others could hear him.

"Well at least there's that!" Roman teased. 

There was a round of laughter and Remus was delighted. He made them laugh!.... Why did Janus look angry about it? Did he not think it was funny? 

"Let's just sit down." Janus said sitting Remus down away from everyone else and sitting between them. Remus looked over Janus' at the others. He wanted to be over there. 

He tugged on Janus' sleeve. "Switch seats?" He asked quietly. He wanted to see between Janus and Patton. Patton might give him a hug if he was good!

Janus looked pained but after a minute of puppy dog eyes relented. Remus was almost bouncing in his spot between Janus and Patton as the movie started.

Remus noticed Patton leaning away from him the whole time. He frowned. "I don't stink." He blurted out.

Patton blinked in surprise. "That's great?" 

Remus huffed and crossed his arms and leaned back. Maybe he wouldn't get a hug after all. 

The movie continued and Remus was quiet. He was trying so hard to be quiet and he was! He wasn't loud or anything. So when the end of movie night rolled around and Patton gave everyone hugs good night.... Everyone but him. He teared up.

"What's wrong?" Patton asked as Janus tensed.

Remus sniffed. "Was I not good enough for a hug?" 

Patton froze. What?

Remus kept talking, "I washed an was good an everything an an...." He shook his head. "Nevermind. I gets it." He sunk out leaving Patton with a very distressed Janus.

"Of course that's what was bugging him." Janus said before giving Patton an icy stare. "We are going to go see him and you are going to give him the best damn hug he's ever gotten."

Patton nodded numbly following Janus out.

They found Remus sniffing staring at the wall blankly. He looked over and blinked surprised. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

Patton smiled, "You didn't get your good night hug yet." 

Remus beamed like it was his birthday and Christmas combined and Patton made a mental note to give him more hugs. Patton hugged him and Remus was still beaming when he left to go to bed.

Janus nodded in approval.


	202. Yellow monster

make sure he could be alone to do that safely. He would never live it down if anyone other than Remus knew. He didn’t need another reason to be labeled a freak he thought as his fingers unconsciously reached up to the scales on his face. 

He sighed as he walked back to his room. Too tired to notice the glare that quickly turned to confusion from Logan. He closed the door and locked it twice. Then he dropped. He sobbed as he curled up on his bed in his clothing too tired to even snap out of them. He grabbed his pillow and hugged it to his chest. 

Remus popped up after a few minutes and dropped onto the bed next to him. “What’s wrong?”

“Small.” Janus muttered. “Tired.” 

Remus hugged him. “I have an idea that will cheer you up.” 

\---

Janus was giggling as he splashed in the bubble bath. A toy pirate ship sinking under the water. “Boom!” He yelled.

Remus chuckled as he washed Janus’ hair. “Boom. down she goes!” 

“Boom!” Janus repeated. He beamed up at Remus solidly in littlespace. He yawned.

“Out of the tub. Time for sleep.” Remus said picking him up and drying him off. Janus muttered about sleep leaning heavily against Remus. They got Janus dressed and Remus carried him to bed. He tucked him in. “Do you want me to stay?”

“Please?” Janus asked, cuddled up with his stuffed snake. 

“Of course.” Remus said laying down next to him. He watched as Janus traced the scales on his face with a distant look on his face. “You ok there?”

Janus teared up. “Am I a monster?” His voice broke as he asked.

“NO!” Remus said hugging him. “Why would you think that?” 

“Cause I look scary.” Janus whispered.

“Who said that you looked scary?” Remus asked ready to go knock some heads.

Janus shrugged. “I just know.” 

“Well you are not a monster.” Remus said firmly. 

Janus sniffed and curled up against Remus. Remus held him until they both fell asleep.


	203. Canary Yellow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fluff puff story :3

Janus had a habit of pushing off his regression until the last minute. Or just sleeping it off. So the others got in the habit of cornering him in a situation where he could regress without the thought that he had to be big. He could regress if he wanted but he didn't have to.

Nine out of ten times he regressed. Just like now.

Janus sat on the floor with Remus and Logan. Logan reading a storybook while Remus helped him make bead bracelets. Janus was really too young to be playing with beads and kept trying to put them in his mouth. At least until Remus got his teether for him.

Janus babbled as he pointed at the beads he wanted on the string as he nummed on the teether. Remus noticed that Janus was picking yellows, greens and blues to make the bracelet. Janus’ wrist was already covered in bracelets from the previous times they had made them, it rattled when Janus flapped his hands happy with the noise. 

“I think storytime is over.” Logan said closing the book as he watched Janus yawn again slowly shaking his hands to rattle his bracelets. 

“Aba.” Was Janus’ comment on it as he made grabby hands at Logan. Remus mock gasped in offence at having not been chosen for naptime cuddles. 

Logan smiled as he picked Janus up and moved over to the couch so he could turn on the t.v to watch while Janus napped curled up against him. He replaced Janus’ teether with his paci. Remus cleaned up the supplies before sitting down on the other side of Janus so the little could hold both of their hands while he slept.


	204. chrysanthemum.

Janus liked flowers when he was little. Drawing them, picking them, weaving them into flower crowns. His favorite was chrysanthemum. They came in a variety of colors, but his favorite was the golden yellow ones. He loved the small ones that Roman painted along the edges of his desk, or the carving of them in his headboard done by Remus.

He enjoyed the trips to the imagination with his caregivers where they would pick them and make rainbow flower crowns. Janus wasn’t good at it due to being, well, Little but Roman and Remus were a bit sneaky in the way they helped fix his crowns so they wouldn’t fall apart and upset him. 

Janus set the red flower crown on Roman’s head. “Thank you.” He said smiling. 

“Wolcomes.” Janus said turning back so he could work on the one for Remus. Remus had just turned back to his own flower project as Janus looked back to find the flower crown a lot further along than he remembered but he didn’t question it. He finished it and put it on Remus’ head. 

“Thanks Bitsy baby.” Remus said, giving Janus a hug. 

“Wolcomes!” Janus said. Remus placed the gold flower crown on Janus’ head before summoning a mirror causing the little to gasp. “Thanks chu!” 

Remus and Roman beamed at the absolutely adorable expression on Janus’ face as he bleped looking at his crown. 

He liked flowers and his caregivers made sure he never ran out of them.


	205. Little don't cry part one.

Human AU  
It started slow. Just a little bit of a sharper joke at his expense or a present that wasn’t really given with the best intent. Always when Remus wasn’t around. Roman regressed to around seven and he never felt bad about it until his new friends found out about it. Well they were more Remus’ friends than his so he never said anything to Remus about the teasing. 

He didn’t notice that his attitude towards his regression changed. Remus did, “You sure you don’t want to regress? It’s been a couple weeks and you’ve been really stressed lately.” 

Roman beamed at the thought before he remembered how their friends had laughed about it when he had to left the other day due to regressing. He hadn’t regressed since then. “I’m fine.” He said half in his littlespace but not wanting to regress further. 

“Are you sure buddy?” Remus asked. 

Roman hesitated before nodding. He could do this. Remus wouldn’t judge him. Roman had only been regressed for a half hour, busy coloring on some paper on the floor when there was a knock at the door. 

“I’ll get it.” Remus said getting up. Roman ignored it until he heard Dave’s voice.

“Awwww is someone being a baby?” Roman tensed as he looked at Dave.

Remus noticed the way Roman reacted to Dave and frowned. Before he could speak Roman answered. “...no.” He lied.

“Is the baby shy? Honestly Remus how do you put up with this?” Dave asked laughing. “It’s so fucking weird.”

Roman looked away as Dave laughed harder. “Ok get out.” Remus said harshly.

“Oh come on man. I know he’s your brother but you can’t really be standing up for this freak?” Dave said right before getting punched in the face. 

“I said get out!”

Dave cursed at him. “Fine! Fuck you man! You and your freak of a brother!” Remus slammed the door in Dave’s face. 

“Roman?” Remus asked softly as he looked over at Roman who was silently crying curled up on the floor next to the couch. 

“Freak.” 

Remus’ heart broke. He knelt down and pulled Roman into his lap. “No. You aren’t a freak. He’s an assssss- a jerk! Don’t listen to him ok?” 

Roman hid his face in Remus’ shoulder and didn’t say anything. Remus sighed. Just how much damage had their ‘friends’ done?

\---

It turned out alot. Roman while understood that what Dave and the others said was wrong he still felt awful in Littlespace. Going so far as to avoid it whenever possible. If Remus could punch that fucker again he would. But they had cut ties with all of their so called friends. 

Then they met Janus, who was at first very confused by Remus’ protectiveness of Roman until Roman finally told him what happened. To which Janus shily confessed he age regressed as well.

“I’ve never met someone else that age regressed.” Janus said trying to keep the excitement out of his voice. He didn’t want to push Roman.

Roman was excited as well. “Really? How young to you get?” 

“About two to five. You?” 

“Seven or so.” 

Remus watched the exchange with a bit of hope. Maybe this was what his brother needed.


	206. Blep

Patton tended to copy what other people did while in little space. So when Janus stunk his tongue out while thinking he copied him. 

“What are you doing?” Janus asked not noticing he had stuck his tongue out before. 

“Blep.” Patton said.

“Blep?” Janus asked sticking out his tongue. 

“Blep.” Patton confirmed.

“Blep.” Janus repeated still confused. They stood there sticking their tongues out for a good few minutes as Janus tried to figure out why he was sticking his tongue out and Patton copied him. 

Roman watched trying and failing to not laugh. “What?” Janus demanded.

“He’s copying you.” Roman explained. 

“He started it!” 

Logan didn’t even look up. “You stick your tongue out while you think.” 

“Blep.” Patton added.

Janus blinked, “N-no I don’t!” Logan and Roman looked at him. Janus groaned. Patton giggled. 

“Blep.” 

Janus stuck his tongue out at Patton again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feeling a bit under the weather today. :p


	207. Periwinkle

Patton was trying to reach the cookie jar. He stood on top of a chair reaching. Logan stashed the cookies on the top shelve to try and stop him. Patton grabbed the jar and climbed down. Ha! Like he could be stopped..

He turned around and froze as he saw Logan standing in the doorway watching him. "Ummm.... Hi." He said weakly.

Logan sighed and held out his hands for the cookie jar. Patton slowly held it out before snatching it back last second and running off. "What- hey!" 

Patton giggled as he dropped into Little space. He darted into the last place Logan would look for him. Remus' room.

"Hi?" Remus said confused by the sudden little with a cookie jar in his room. 

"Shhh. Hidden from Lo." Patton whispered.

Remus caught on and grinned. He opened the closet door and gestured for Patton to hide inside. "In here."

Patton ran in and Remus closed the door just as there was a knock. He listened to muffled speech from in the closet. Logan asking where he was. Remus pretended that he hadn't seen him before getting Logan to leave the room.

When Remus opened the door, Patton was halfway through a cookie. Remus burst out laughing and grabbed a cookie from the jar. "Think we can get through the jar before he gets back?" 

Patton nodded as he shoved the rest of the cookie in his mouth.

\---

Patton and Remus were groaning on the couch. Logan stood in front of them arms crossed. "There is a reason you aren't allowed to just eat as many cookies as you want."

Patton agreed, only ever eating one maybe two cookies after that.


	208. Indigo.

Logan was drawing on Remus' arm as the dark side napped. He was suppose to be watching the little but Logan was normally so well behaved he decided that getting some sleep couldn't hurt.

Logan was drawing squids and fish and seaweed all over Remus' arm before moving to his neck and face. He had ran out of room on his papers awhile ago. 

Roman walked into the room causing Logan to pause. They stared at each other before Roman summoned another set of markers and got to work on Remus' other arm. 

\----

"So you helped him?" Remus grumbled as he washed the drawings off. He wasn't upset at Logan but he was a little pissed off at his brother.

Roman shrugged. "Don't fall asleep when your suppose to be watching him." 

Remus threw a used up wet rag at Roman who ducked and laughed. Remus rolled his eyes before grinning. Don't fall asleep huh?

\----

"REMUS!" Roman yelled as he stormed down, almost everyone at breakfast already. 

Remus cackled as Roman walked in covered in doodles. "what is this?" 

"Lo had a nightmare so we did something to distract him." Remus said cheerfully. 

Logan beamed at Roman. "You like them? Re said you liked day drawens day we did for him. So we gave dem to you too!" 

Roman forced a smile. "They're great starlight. But I think I should talk to Remus alone for a minute."

Remus laughed, "Not a chance! See you around!" He said darting out of the room. 

"Get back here!" Roman yelled chasing after him. 

Logan sat confused.


	209. The wrapping tubes.

Patton was playing with an empty wrapping paper tube. By playing, he was running around booping everyone with it before giggling. 

"Boop!" 

"Ah! Oh no!" Roman cried dramatically.

"Boop!" 

"I have been booped." Logan said not even looking up from his paperwork.

"Boop!" 

Virgil Rolled his eyes before ruffling Patton's hair.

"Boop!" ...." Re no! No eat! Not food!" 

Remus laughed.

"Boop!"

Janus looked up a little stunned at having been, 'booped'. "Boop?"

Patton hit the top of his head again with the tube. "Boop!" 

Janus blinked. Patton handed him the tube that had a bite taken out of it. "You try."

Janus slowly lifted it before tapping the top of Patton's head causing the little to giggle. "Boop!" 

Janus smiled, "boop." 

"Boop!" Remus said popping up and grabbing the tube. He took another bite out of it. 

"Re no!" Patton said reaching for it.

Remus laughed and ran off with the tube in his mouth.

Janus rolled his eyes and summoned another tube and handing it to Patton. "Well? Go get him." 

Patton hugged Janus. "Fanks!" He said before running off.


	210. Merry Christmas

Hey everybody! Thanks so much for reading and just kinda being here for this over the last five months. It means a lot to me! 

Just want to say happy holidays! Hope everyone has a great day whether you celebrate or not. Stay safe! Drink plenty of water, eat something if you haven't yet, and get some sleep if you need it! 

Take care of yourselves kiddos! 

-D


	211. Seafoam. Or where they all eat play-doh.

Patton and Remus were inseparable when they were regressed.

The regressors would hold hands most of the time to make sure they didn't get separated. They also held on to Roman who they had chosen as their Caregiver. Much to his distress. 

"Please don't eat that!" Roman said for the fifth time since they started playing with play-doh. He reached over to remove the play-doh from Patton's mouth only for Remus to eat some as soon as he was turned away. 

"Remus no!" Roman cried out turning. Patton ate some more.

Logan and Janus stood in the doorway watching.

"Are you going to tell him that you replaced it with edible play-doh?" Janus asked.

Logan shook his head, "I figured I'd let him find out on his own." 

"Diabolical." Was Janus only comment.

Patton hummed happily as he ate the cookie flavored play-doh. Every color was a different flavor cookie. He liked mixing them and didn't understand why Roman didn't want him to eat it when Logan said it was ok.

Remus who was older and could still talk, "but tasty!" 

Roman groaned. If course Remus thought that. He opened his mouth to tell him that it wasn't for eating. Again. When Remus shoved a bit into his mouth.

"Remmmph!" Roman was about to spit it out when... He chewed a couple times. "Huh."

He grabbed another bite of play-doh. Cookies?? He sighed and leaned back letting Patton and Remus eat it. He guessed it wouldn't hurt them after all.

Logan watched as Roman started eating the play-doh as well. He sighed, "That is... disappointing."

Janus laughed, "did you expect a different reaction?"

"I didn't think he would start eating it as well." Logan admitted.

Janus hummed before walking over and grabbing an abandoned chunk and eating a small bit. He turned back to Logan. "Don't make it taste this good next time then." He took another bite.


	212. Lavender

Virgil was regressed and refusing to sleep. Which meant someone was up working to get him in bed. 

"Come on. You need some sleep." Remy pleaded with him.

"No!" Virgil said bouncing on his bed.

"Please?" Remy asked, tired. 

Virgil stopped bouncing. "You sleepy?" Virgil asked.

"Very." Remy said before yawning. Virgil crawled off his bed and pulled back the covers. 

"Oh no kiddo. That's-" Remy started before Virgil grabbed his a and dragged him into bed. Virgil tucked him in.

"Night night." Virgil said kissing Remy's forehead. 

Remy grabbed Virgil before he could ran off and dragged him into bed with him. "Cuddles."

Virgil groaned but struggled up to Remy anyway. Virgil fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes. Remy laughed under his breath before yawning again and drifting off to sleep.


	213. Midnight blue

"I'm done getting hurt because of you!" Logan snapped as everyone had been speaking over him again. He didn't even give them time to respond before he sunk out. A small bit of regret over his outburst that was quickly overtaken by satisfaction. He had finally said something about it.

He dropped down onto Remus' bed next to him. "I yelled at them."

Remus stopped what he was doing to beam at Logan. "Oh good on you! Took ya long enough!" 

Guilt wormed it's way into Logan's chest. "I feels bad." He said dropping. Remus pulled him into a hug. 

"You shouldn't. You were standing up for yourself." Remus said pressing a kiss to Logan's temple. "That's not a bad thing starshine." 

Logan sniffed and rubbed his eyes. Remus took for Logan's glasses and replaced them with his midnight blue star patterned ones. He snapped his fingers and changed Logan's outfit to his planets pajamas. 

"There. That's better!" Remus said.

Logan giggled and sniffed again. "Fanks." 

"Of course starshine. What do you want to do?" Remus asked.

"...cuddles?..an little einsteins?" Logan asked small.

Remus hugged him tighter. "That sounds like a great idea." Remus turned on the t.v on the wall to the kid's show and pulled the so they were laying back against a mound of Pillows. Most of which where star shaped. 

Logan sang long with the theme song. Remus watched feeling more protective of the little than usual. Logan was going to had to face the others again and they might not take being yelled at well, by as much as Remus would love to take care of it for him. This was Logan's fight.

Remus was going to just be there for him as much as possible. Things would be fine in the end. He had a few weapons up his sleeve if they didn't. 

"Re?" 

"Yes?" Remus asked pulled from his thoughts.

"Wove you." Logan said sucking on his fingers.

Remus felt his heart explode in his chest. "I love you too starshine." Remus replaced his fingers with one of his pacis. Logan's eyes so closed as he laid against Remus content.

Everything would be alright. Remus was there to make sure of it.


	214. Carrot orange.

Roman was trying to not cry. He had dropped in front of everyone and had stuttered causing Virgil to tease him about it. It wasn't his fault he stuttered when he was little! Only one other person knew that he was little, cuz they were little too. 

Janus noticed that Roman had dropped and was quick to advert everyone's attention to himself. Mentioning that it's getting late and everyone should head to bed. A suggestion that Logan backed up. With that Virgil, Patton and Logan left. 

"You ok?" Janus asked before Roman looked at him and let the tears he had been holding back fall.

"M-mean." He said. Janus hugged him. 

"Sh shhh. It's ok. He didn't mean it." Janus said trying to sooth Roman.

"Ha-hates me." Roman whimpered hiding his face in Janus' chest.

Janus sighed. This wasn't good. When Roman dropped upset he tended to stay upset until he wasn't regressed anymore.

"What's up fuckers?" Remus asked causing them to jump.

Roman looked at his brother terrified. "O-oh." 

Janus tensed. "Remus why don't you go bother Logan?" 

Remus flopped onto the couch. "He just kicked me out of his room. Wasn't a fan of getting splashed with goo as soon as he stepped in."

Janus and Roman where silent. Remus frowned. "Ok. What's going on with Roman?" He said completely serious using his brother's name instead of a nickname or insult.

"He's..." Janus tried to think of something.

"I'm...sma-small." Roman whispered.

"Small?....oh! Like age regression?" Remus asked. They both stared at him. "What? Someone's been trying not to think about it lately and you know who picks up on something like that!" He said pointing to himself.

"Yes. Well. Since you understand what it is, you can understand you aren't a good person to be around a regressor-" janus was cut off by a loud laugh from Remus.

"Oh please! I have more depth to me than that! I'm not all about butts you know!" Remus said.

He moved over and surprised them by picking Roman up. "First thing's first. Let's get you into something more comfy ok bud?" He asked.

Roman agreed silently as Janus followed them to Roman's room. Remus put Roman on the bed before opening his closet. "Let's see what we have!" 

Janus sat down on the bed next to Roman so Roman could lean on him. He wasn't upset anymore, just confused. He watched Remus with wide eyes as his brother dug through his closet for something for him to wear.

"How about....this?" He pulled out a frozen patterned onesie. Roman thought about it before shaking his head. Remus put it back. "This one?" He pulled out a pair of fluffy red and white Christmas pj's.

Roman grinned and nodded. He wasn't confident to speak again. Remus handed him the outfit. "Do you need help?" Janus asked.

"Ppeas?" He asked.

They helped him get changed before tucking him in bed. "You need rest." Janus said when Roman whined about it. 

"You need a bedtime story?" Remus asked.

Janus tensed at what that might be before Remus summoned Robin hood and handed it to Janus to read. Janus gave him a smile and a nod. They both sat on either side of the bed cuddling Roman between them before Janus started reading.

He dropped halfway through the story so Remus gently took the book and started reading to them as Janus snuggled under the covers with Roman. 

By the time the story was over both littles were asleep with a new caregiver there to take care of them next time.


	215. Carrot orange. Part two

Remus was surprisingly good at picking up when one of them had regressed. To the point he could tell when they were going to drop as well. 

Today had been trying for Janus. He was fighting to stay big just untill everyone else went to bed.

He dropped during dinner. Idly kicking his feet back and forth under the table as he bit his lip staring at his drink. He really needed a sippy cup but if he asked for one then it would be suspicious. So he carefully grabbed his cup with both hands. 

Everyone looked at him. Why? He didn't spill anything. He did really well! 

"Are you feeling alright?" Logan asked.

"Mmm." Janus nodded. Remus and Roman shared a look.

Virgil was about to speak when Roman knocked over his drink right into Virgil's lap. Virgil jumped up. "What the hell?" 

"Oops! Sorry. So sorry!" Roman said handing him his napkin. Logan and Patton stood to get towels as Remus silently took Janus from the room.

Remus sighed in relieve as he closed the door to Janus' room behind them. "That was really close huh buddy?" 

Janus nodded. "Secret." He said sitting on the end of his bed kicking his feet.

"It is a secret. And it's safe." Remus said ruffling Janus' hair before going over and pulling out Janus' pajamas. Black and gold fluffy ones. "You need help getting changed?" 

Janus nodded and let Remus help him out of his clothing and into the pj's. He hummed happily as he stroked the soft sleeves of his shirt.

The door opened and Roman stepped in before closing it and sighing. "Well Virgil's pissed off at me but at least they don't know."

Remus nodded his approval. "Good... You want to drop too?"

Roman thought about it. "I'm good but thank you. I'd prefer to just go to bed early tonight."

"I not sleepy yet!" Janus protested.

Remus laughed a little, "Well how about you stay up with me and Ro can get some sleep. Huh?" 

Janus quickly agreed causing the twins to laugh. Roman gave Janus a hug and fore head kiss. "Be good for Remus ok?"

" Night night!" Janus said waving as Roman left.

"So....pillowfort?" Remus asked.

Janus beamed. "Pillowfort." 

\----

Hours later Janus was dozing off on a pile of Pillows on the floor. Remus telling him a story he was making up on the spot about a dog, a snake, and a hyena all going on an adventure together. 

"-then they found a nice safe place to life and that's the end." Remus said as Janus yawned again.

"Nother one." Janus mumbled. Remus laughed softly. 

"I think it's bedtime." He said picking Janus up.

"Nooooo. Not...yawn...tired." Janus protested his eyes half closed. Remus tucked him in bed.

"Sleepy snakes need their sleep." Remus sang gently as he sat down on the edge of the bed while he ran his fingers through Janus' hair. 

Janus hummed, eyes closing the rest of the way. Remus have him a forehead kiss. "Sleep well." He whispered before turning off the lights.


	216. Dove grey

Remy didn’t regress much but when he did he was tiny. Something that Emile had no problems with. He liked taking care of Remy big or little. Reminding him to not stay up so late or tucking him into bed. At the moment Remy was fighting off his regression and hoping that Emile wouldn’t notice. Of course he did. They had both agreed that Remy wouldn’t put off his regression unless absolutely necessary. At the moment they were just at home. There was nothing stopping Remy from regressing except himself.

Emile frowned as Remy shook his head and scowled at his phone, clearly frustrated. Emile sat down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, I think you need a break from that screen.” 

“I’m fine.” Remy said sharply, not looking up. If Emile wasn’t sure that Remy was putting off his regression he was now. He sighed and crossed his arms. 

“Rem.” 

Remy looked up. He at least looked embarrassed. “Sorry.” 

“Do you need to regress?” Emile asked. “It’s ok if you do. I don’t mind.” 

Remy looked over at the wall, or rather scowled over at the wall. “Yeah. I do.” There was a long moment of silence following this.

“And?” Emile prompted.

Remy sighed. “I don’t know. I just… I know you don’t mind and I feel like you do. Today it’s just harder to shake the feeling that you do than normal.” 

Emile nodded. “Well you know that I don’t mind so saying in won’t do much will it?” Remy shook his head. Emile continued. “So Actions speak louder than words.” That got a smile out of him. “How young do you think You’ll be today?” Emile asked standing. 

“Um..” Remy thought about it. Letting himself slip a little. He held up one finger. Emile beamed at him.

“Well Let’s get you dressed. Ok baby?” Emile said, helping Remy to his feet.

\---  
Remy sat on Emile’s lap curled up against him. A bottle of honey milk slowly being eaten. He was dressed in a pull up (just in case) and jumper. Emile was running his fingers through Remy’s hair as the little ate. He hummed a little causing Remy’s eyes to droop before sliding shut.

Emile laid him down on their bed. Tucking him in and replacing the bottle with his paci. Emile really didn’t mind. He just hoped he could show Remy that. In time.


	217. Pink! Or everyone stop Thomas from eating non foods

Thomas regressed little. Toddler or younger. So he had a habit of trying to eat everything he could reach. Half the job of watching him was removing whatever he found and managed to stick in his mouth.

"No!" Remus said exasperated. "We don't eat that!" He said taking the pebble Thomas had found and replacing it with his paci.

"You're one to talk." Virgil said.

"It won't hurt me." Remus said before he and Virgil cried out and Reached for Thomas who had removed his paci and was not eating.... something.

"Spit it out." Remus said.

"Nuhuh." Thomas said around...whatever it was.

"Thomas spit it out now." Virgil said holding out his hand. Remus reached into Thomas' mouth and pulled out...a button.

"Where did you even get this?" Remus asked.

Thomas pointed to his shirt that was missing a button. Virgil and Remus shared a look. "Well I guess we need to remove button clothing from what he can wear." 

Remus agreed. 

They looked over as Thomas started putting the t.v. remote in his mouth. "No!" They both said at the same time.

Thomas was chewing on the end of the remote as he looked at his caregivers. 

Ok, maybe it was more than half the job.


	218. Nico Serenity

Nico was a very calm little. He was nonverbal and enjoyed small puzzles and silent activities with soft music playing in the background. Over all he was very easy to watch. 

Which was good as Thomas tended to get very distracted. To the point of forgetting about Nico until Virgil popped up to yell at him. At which point he would focus on the little untill he got distracted again.

"He's fine." Logan said trying to ease Virgil's concern.

"He's so quiet. What if he wanders off." Virgil shot back.

"He never does that." Patton said. "He's really well behaved.'

"You need to calm down." Roman said rolling his eyes. "We've done this lots of times and never had a problem." 

"Yeah but what if this time-" virgil started.

"Breathe." Logan reminded him. Virgil took a breath. 

"Ok... Fine... I'll try and...chill out." Virgil said as Thomas looked over to see that Nico was still playing with his puzzles and enjoying the music.

Thomas moved over to sit on the floor next to him. "Want some help?"

Nico beamed at him and handed him a bunch of pieces before turning back to the puzzle. 

Thomas ruffled Nico's hair before helping out the puzzle together. Virgil relaxed more now that they were next to Nico and we're able to keep a closer eye on him.


	219. Remus was alone Virgil ending part two electric boogaloo

Janus felt awful. He wanted so badly to go see Remus again but he couldn't. He couldn't face him after everything he said. He couldn't stand Remus rejecting him after everyone else did. He held on to the stray hope that maybe, just maybe Remus did want him back. that he was waiting for him. It was selfish and a bit cruel, but it got Janus out of bed in the morning.

At least until Virgil showed up, screamed at him to never go near Remus again and that they were all better off without him. Remus had been with Virgil and hadn't said anything. He just watched before they both left. 

Janus broke down. Remus really did hate him. Everyone hated him. They were better off without. 

Janus stopped getting out of bed.

\---

It had been two weeks since anyone had seen Janus. Two weeks since Remus had moved up to the light sides at Virgil's request. Roman hadn't been happy about it but after meeting Little Remus he was almost as over protective of his brother as Virgil was.

Still, Remus missed Janus. It wasn't the same. It was nice. But not the same. So one evening after he was supposed to be in bed he snuck out to see him.

"Jan?" He asked opening Janus' door.

Janus was curled up on his bed staring blankly at the wall. Remus moved in front of him. "Hey."

Janus teared up, "please don't."

"Don't... what?' Remus asked confused.

"Yell at me. I can't...I can't handle it." He said broken.

Remus sat down next to him. "I'm not here to yell I just....why didn't you come back?"

"You hate me. Everyone hates me. I couldn't...I couldn't face you after everything I said. After making you hate me." Janus explained.

Remus frowned. "Jan I didn't hate you. I don't! I miss you... A lot." 

Janus looked at him hopefully. "Really?"

Remus pulled him into a hug. "Yeah. Really." 

Janus sobbed. Remus didn't hate him. He still had his friend. He didn't deserve that. Maybe it was selfish of him to hold onto Remus. To let Remus stay. But he needed his friend there for him. Even when he hadn't been there for him.

Virgil found them in the morning cuddled up together asleep. He sighed. Remus never did hold grudges against Janus.


	220. Dolphin blue

Patton was bouncing as he and Logan explored the aquarium in the imagination. Roman and Remus watching each other them as they ran around looking at everything. 

Logan was paired with Remus who blurted out gross sea life facts for him, something Logan was thrilled about. Roman watched Patton, letting him pet the animals whether it normally would have been a fish you pet or not. 

Logan didn't like petting fish if you weren't able to in real life. And the more gross facts upset Patton. Still they made it work.

"Shark!" Patton said pointing at the tank that Remus and Logan were at.

"That's a dolphin." Roman said letting Patton take his hand and lead him over to it. 

"Dolphin. Hi!" He waved at the dolphin who waved back.

Logan frowned. "Dolphins don't wave." 

"They do if you train them." Remus said quickly shooting Roman a look to knock it off. 

"Can I pet it?' Patton asked.

"Why would you pet it? It's skin feels gross." Logan said.

"It's not gross! It's cute!" Patton said.

Remus and Roman looked at each other. "How about some ice cream?" Roman suggested breaking up the fight.

"Ice cream!" Patton jumped up and down clapping. Logan shrugged. They moved over to an ice cream stand and Remus and Roman dished them up bowls of ice cream.

"We should go see the whales next." Logan said.

"Ohhh! Yeah! Can we? I wanna ride one!' patton said.

"You shouldn't ride a whale if you aren't trained." Logan said firmly.

"Why not? I have before." Patton said confused.

Roman coughed before Logan could protest. "I think we should save that for another day. It's getting late." 

"Yeah. Someones still have a game of monopoly to finish." Remus added.

Logan brightened at the idea of their unfinished game. Patton just liked that they would be playing a game even if he never won. 

They finished their ice cream and headed back. Next time Remus and Roman would be more careful about keeping them separated.


	221. Hero

Roman was a prince, so when he played pretend he was anything except that. He didn't need to pretend to be something be already was! That was silly. Virgil agreed with the little on that.

"So what are you today?" Virgil asked as Roman dug around in his closet for a costume.

"I thinks...a superhero!" Roman said pulling out his redish orange superhero outfit. 

"Like pj masks?" Virgil asked.

"Yeah! Like dem!" Roman said struggling to get dressed. Virgil helped him get into the outfit. "Thanks chu!"

Virgil ruffled his hair. "Of course. Who's going to be the villain?" 

Roman thought for a minute. "Logan?" Virgil nodded.

"Let's go ask him." 

Logan did agree to being the villain. A mad scientist. Who was going to have a very evil scheme that wasn't child friendly until Virgil reminded him to tone it down.

"Oh....right...um....I'm going to....steal everyone's....cookies?" Logan said looking for Virgil's approval on this.

Roman gasped. "No!" 

Logan started running with it. "Yes! Soon all the cookies will be mine!" 

Patton overheard this. "No. You are sharing mister." 

Roman rolled his eyes, "Pa it's da game!"

"Oh! Can I play?" Patton asked.

Patton ended up helping Logan while Virgil was Roman's sidekick

"What are you doing?' Janus asked having walked in on the 'fight' which was Roman hitting Logan and Patton with a pillow.

'superheroes." Roman explained.

Janus nodded. "I see. Need help?' Roman nodded happily letting Janus join his team.

"No fair! We're out numbered!" Patton protested.

"Well maybe Remus can join you." Janus suggested.

\----

Thomas summoned them and stares in shock as he was met with six costumed figures all armed with pillows except Logan who was hugging an upside down cookie jar.

'you know. I don't think I want to know." Thomas said leaving the room.


	222. Lilac part one.

Human AU

Virgil didn't want his roommates Emile and Remy to know he regressed. Sure Emile was therapist so he might understand, or he might say that virgil didn't need to age regress and should cut it out. So he wasn't going to risk it. Remy, Emile's boyfriend didn't seem like the kind of person that would understand age regression or support it.

So Virgil was careful to not regress around them...or be around them much. He couldn't risk slipping. His friends tolerated his regression at best and were annoyed with it if he did it around them more than twice a month. Since he had already hit that limit he was going to have to regress at home. Luckily for him his roommates and were out for the whole day. Unlucky, he regressed young enough that he forgot how to tell time.

Emile and Remy were in the middle of talking when they walked into the living room and found a very young Virgil. The t.v o. To a kids channel, you kids toys spread around the floor with Virgil dressed in a pull up and large sweater in the middle.

Remy took off his sunglasses and blinked a couple times. "Are you seeing this too?" 

Virgil started to panic. He teared up causing Emile to Drop down to his knees next to him to comfort him. "It's ok. How old are you right now?" 

Virgil held up two fingers. Emile grasped. "Just a baby huh?" 

Remy sat down. "Age regression right?" He asked his boyfriend. 

Emile nodded, "looks like it."

"Sowwy." Virgil said tears spilling over.

"Oh no. Why are you sorry?" Emile asked.

"Annoying." Virgil said hugging himself.

Emile and Remy shared a look. "Did someone say your regression was annoying?" Remy asked softly showing none of the anger he felt at that. He knew enough about age regression to know not to say something like that!

"Fwiends." Virgil said. "Stupid."

"You aren't stupid." Emile said pulling Virgil into his lap and hugging him. 

Remy grabbed a tissue and dried Virgil's tears. "You need better friends."

Virgil shrugged and put his thumb in his mouth. Remy looked around and noticed a pacifier on the floor. He got up and rinsed it off before giving it to Virgil.

"Fanks chu." Virgil said shyly hiding his face against Emile's chest. 

"Of course Vee."Remy said softly. 

Remy and Emile looked at each and nodded. They were going to take care of their roommate. 

\----

Virgil wasn't sure how to bring up his regression to them after he was bigger. Thankfully Emile brought it up for him. 

"You don't normally have someone to take care of you huh?"

Virgil shook his head. Remy almost offered to take care of him right then but Emile had warned him they needed to ease Virgil into the idea. They didn't want to scare him.

"People don't....like it." He aid putting it mildly. They hated it but Emile and Remy had been nice about it so far so he wasn't going to bring that up.

"Well we have no problems with you regressing here." Remy said. Emile nodded agreeing.

Virgil gave a weak smile. "Thanks but it's going to end up annoying you after awhile." 

"Let's just wait a see." Emile said before Remy could protest Virgil's statement.


	223. Royal red

Roman was finger painting with Remus. His brother suggesting the activity as a way to get the little to sit down for more than a minute at a time. Roman ran around so much in little space to the point he was either running or sleeping. 

Remus watched as Roman painted a basic stick figure wearing red and another one wearing green. It didn't take a genius to figure out who they were but Remus asked anyway. 

"It's me an you Ree!" Roman said happily bouncing a little before focusing on painting again.

"Very good job!" Remus praised. "I can see the resemblance now!" 

Roman beamed at that and wiped his finger off before grabbing the yellow paint for Janus. He was clearly drawing him and his caregivers. At least his caregivers before Janus had given his name and Roman at laughed at him. 

Remus frowned as the thought about it. Little Roman clearly missed Janus while big Roman was still mad and a bit hurt at being called evil. Remus didn't pick sides with this,choosing instead to let them work it out at their own pace. 

At least that was the plan until Roman started crying over the fact that Janus wasn't there....again. "hey no. It's ok."

"Dee gone." Roman sobbed. Remus couldn't take it anymore and he summoned Janus. 

"What do you want-" Janus started before he took in the sobbing Roman who was halfway through painting him. Roman looked over at Janus with pure happiness, eyes still wet. "Dee!"

Janus had to swallow the lump in his throat. He missed taking care of Roman. He set his face into an impartial mask. "Did you need something?" Janus asked Remus ignoring Roman.

Roman tugged on Janus' pant leg. "Look." Janus continued to ignore him causing Remus to glare. 

"Just look at the damn picture!" He snapped.

"Fine. It mediocre at best!" Janus snapped. Roman froze. Janus immediately felt guilty for lashing out. This wasn't little Roman's fault.

Roman stood up before Remus could tell at Janus. He was holding the picture staring at it. Remus and Janus watched as he shredded it. "I done now." He whispered sniffing before turning away. 

Janus didn't stop him from walking away. He watched Roman close his door before Remus was standing in front of him seething. "You have to fix this. Now." His voice cold.

Janus glared back, "I'm not going to do anything until he apologizes." Janus spun around and exited the room, trying to stomp out the guilt eating at him.

\----

Roman didn't paint after that. Or draw. Or do anything like that in little space. Everytime Remus brought it up Roman shook his head and softly said, "I not good at it...." Nothing Remus said made him think otherwise. 

Janus walked through while Roman was little and Roman shied away from him, flinching when Janus looked at him. It made Janus feel sick.

"Roman..." He didn't know what to say.

"I think you should go." Remus said sharply. 

Janus nodded curtly before walking off. Roman sobbed as he left. Janus could hear Remus trying and failing to comfort him.

\---

Roman knocked on Janus' door. Janus opened it and glared at Roman. Roman took a breath. "I'm sorry.... I shouldn't have made fun of your name."

"Thank you." Janus relaxed. He started to apologise as well when Roman spoke again.

"You were right." Roman said hollow.

"About what?" Janus asked terrified of the answer.

"I am the evil twin." Roman said before walking away leaving Janus stunned.

Roman really thought he was evil? What had he done? 

\----

Janus apologized to Roman after that only for Roman to brush it off saying he deserved it. Janus was only being honest after all. Janus wanted to shake him, of course that wasn't true! Roman was a hero, Thomas' hero. And he didn't believe it.

Janus found broken paintbrushes and colored pencils in the trash. Roman seemed to lose his color. Adult Roman was distant from everyone, little Roman was silent and still and not at all how he should be. 

Janus had no idea how to fix it. It was too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact. I cried while writing this one. First one I cried over.


	224. Teal, or part two of Lilac, or part two of little don't cry.

Janus asked if Roman and Remus could watch him while he was regressed. They both agreed. So one Tuesday evening Janus came over.

"Are you sure you don't want to be little too? I can watch both of you." Remus said. 

Roman shook his head. "We don't know how Janus is. You might have your hands full." Remus was disappointed but didn't push it. 

Janus brought his little gear with him. Sippy cup, paci, and a stuffed snake pillow. He was bouncy and over all very excited. Remus laughed as Janus grabbed Roman’s hand and dragged him over to his bag to show him his stuff. Janus babbled happily as he handed the stuff to Roman to inspect. 

Roman slowly slipped into his little headspace. It was easy with Janus’ around. Roman was so focused on Janus that he didn’t even care that he had regressed. He just wanted to make sure Janus was happy.

Remus made pizza rolls for them to eat as they watched t.v. Roman picked the aristocats to watch first. Something that Janus was fine with cus Roman picked it. It was quite clear that Little Janus adored Roman and looked up to him for everything. 

Remus gave Roman a sippy cup just so that Janus didn’t throw a fit over not being able to drink out of a normal cup. (He wasn’t as careful or balanced when he was little.) Roman was more than happy to drink out of a sippy cup if it meant he got to match Janus. 

Janus leaned against Roman while they ate and watched the movie. His new ‘big brother’. Roman was thrilled with that. 

That was just the first of many playdates until they only regress with the other one. 

\--

The three of them were out when Roman dropped. Janus was trying to not drop too but after Remus reassured him it would be fine he dropped too. It was going well.. At least until they ran into Dave.

"Well if it isn't the freak and his brother." Dave sneered.

Roman whimpered. Remus would have punched him if his hands weren't full with Janus and Roman's hands.

"Oh shut up!" Dave yelled at Roman. "Grow up! This is sick and you need to get it through your head that it's messed up!"

"Excuse me."

\---

Logan was up working way later than he should have been. Patton walked in crossing his arms frowning. Logan looked up and at least looked a little guilty.

"It's almost two in the morning." Patton said.

"I just have to finish this up." Logan said quickly.

Patton put on his stern caregiver tone, "Logan."

Logan dropped. "Sorry." 

Patton pulled him into a hug. "Let's get you to bed. You can finish this up in the morning ok?" 

Logan nodded and yawned. Patton helped Logan changed into his PJs and got him in bed. Logan curled up against Patton to sleep. "Thanks."

"Of course baby."

\---

That wasn't the first time he had to drag Logan away from work and it wasn't going to be the last. 

"Let's go to the mall." Patton suggested. "We can go picked out a new stuffie." 

Logan's eyes lit up at the suggestion. "Build a bear?" 

"Sure. Then we can go out for ice cream." Patton said grabbing their coats.

Logan was excited the whole drive there. Patton made sure to hold Logan's hand, he tended to get distracted and wander off. Little and big. 

They finished building a dinosaur with a heartbeat and a star jacket when they heard yelling outside. 

They stepped out to see a man yelling a trio of shoppers. Two of whom were very scared looking and the middle one who was holding their hands looked murderous. 

"Excuse me." Patton said firmly getting the attention of the yelling man who turn and looked past him to Logan.

"Oh is he a freak too? Do you all know each other?" The man reached for dino in Logan's arm when a hand shot out and grabbed his arm.

"You should really keep your hands to yourself." A man in a leather jacket and sunglasses said coldly.

\----

Emile and Remy took Virgil to the mall to get him some little gear to show their support. Virgil was baffled by it and on edge unsure if they were being genuinely nice or not. 

Yelling drew their attention to a very angry man shouting at a trio of men. They just got over there as a pair of other shoppers did. The man reached out to take the stuffies animal one of the men was holding. Remy grabbed his arm.

"You should really keep your hands to yourself." 

The man ripped his arm away and looked around. Realizing he was outnumbered he stormed off. 

"You alright?" Remy asked noticing the way three of the five men were rather shaken looking.

"Thanks to you."

\--

They exchanged names and all joined up for ice cream.

Roman was on the verge of tears and poking at his ice cream. He was the one the man had been yelling at most.

"What was that jerk so upset about?" Virgil asked.

Roman, Janus and Remus stiffened. Remus opened his mouth to speak but Roman spoke first.

"I small and he not like dat." Roman whispered.

Logan's head shot up. He and Virgil spoke at the same time. "You're little too?" 

"And me." Janus added. The caregivers looked around at each other.

"Well. This is a nice surprise." Emile said smiling.


	225. Slime green snippet

"Is that my hoodie?" Virgil asked making Remus jump.

Remus had his chew necklace on and was wearing his kraken pj's under Virgil's hoodie indicating that he was little at the moment.

"Umm..sowwy." Remus started to take the hoodie off.

"No it's ok. Just why do you want to wear it? It's not really your style." Virgil joked.

"Cuz it's yours….makes me feel safe." Virgil felt his heart melt at that. He hugged Remus tightly. 

"Wear it as long as you want." Virgil said. 

Remus ended up getting his own copy of Virgil's jacket. One that he wore everytime he was little and a few times when he wasn't.


	226. Navy blue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this one is kinda... Jittery I guess? Anywho. Hope you enjoy.

Navy blue. 

WARNING SELF HARM  
Patton was breaking down. He was trying so hard not to. To just hold on a little bit longer. Get through the day and then he could cry himself to sleep like always. Just smile and act like the clear disinterest in everything he had to say didn't hurt. Act like the way they all thought he was dumb wasn't painful. Or that they just didn't like who he was, as a dad, or morality. 

No it was clear they all didn't like him. They probably tolerated him at best. He should really learn to be quiet. He thought as his joke was once again met with groans and a small 'shut up' from Virgil. 

He brushed it off like it didn't hurt. Played dumb when he felt like crying. He went to bed early that night. No one cared that he left.

\---

The first time it happened was an accident. He just wasn't as careful around the candle as he should have been. He burnt his arm. Just a small burn, but it made his heart speed up and adrenaline shoot through him. The pain completely over shadowed his emotional turmoil.

He felt...fine. for the first time in weeks he could breath. It was like a weight had been lifted. He was fine. Great even. At least until he had to be around the others.

The second time was on purpose. It was again small, he didn't need that much pain to feel better. Just another small burn to go along side his other one. He cleaned it, bandaged it. It gave him something to think about. Something to press on and get a burst of pain to chase away his emotions.

"Why do you keep rubbing your arm?" Logan asked. Patton got a jolt of fear. He couldn't tell anyone. They would just hate him more, it would spoil the good feelings he got out of it. 

"Just trying to stay awake." Patton said.

Logan frowned at that. "Haven't you been sleeping more than usual lately?" 

"I haven't been sleeping great." Patton said before shaking his head. Logan wasn't showing concern. He was just trying to piece Patton together like a puzzle that he could throw away when he was done. "Don't worry about it." The words tasted bitter. Of course Logan wouldn't worry. He didn't even need to say that.

Patton regressed for the first time after that. He was trying to burn himself when he dropped and started crying. He didn't want to hurt! He wanted hugs and cuddles and to feel...loved.

Patton snapped out of it shaken and terrified. Was he losing his mind? He wanted to go tell someone about this. Make sure he wasn't going crazy.

No….no he couldn't do that.

He stayed in his room for the entirety of the next day.

\---

"Patton has been acting off lately." Virgil said concerned.

"I've noticed." Roman said frowning.

Logan looked up from his notepad. "He claims that he has not been sleeping well." 

"Claims? What you don't believe him?" Roman asked.

Logan hesitated before he spoke. "He was rubbing his arm and I found bandages missing from the cabinet." 

"So? Maybe he got hurt." Roman said. Virgil didn't like that idea.

"Yes. But when I asked about it he said he was trying to stay awake. Not that he had been injured." Logan said.

There was a brief silence. "Maybe he's embarrassed?" Roman offered not liking the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"He's never been before." Virgil said before chewing on his thumb nail.

"Well. We can simply confront him once he comes out of his room." Logan said.

"Shouldn't he be out by now?"

\----

Patton wasn't one to curse but he felt like it now. He messed up. Big time. He was holding his arm tears pouring down his face. He had burned himself too much this time. The edge of his skin blackened.

He needed help. He couldn't handle this on his own. They're going to hate you more. He thought.

He sobbed and regressed for the second time. He wailed the pain so much worse while he was little. His door opened and he looked up to see the others concerned faces. 

"What happened?" Roman demanded as Logan looked at Patton's arm before telling Virgil to grab the first aid kit.

"Sorry...sorry...sorry….please don't hate me." He whimpered.

Logan and Roman shared a shocked look as Patton repeated his apologises. Roman hugged him from the side that didn't have the burnt arm. 

"Patton did you do this on purpose?" Logan asked slowly as he saw two older healing burns further up on his arm.

Patton whimpered before closing his eyes. He mouthed something to himself before looking at them again. He opened his mouth to speak but ended up sobbing instead.

Virgil got back with the first aid kit. Logan set about cleaning and bandaging the wound as Roman held Patton. "Oh pat. What is going on with you?"

At that Patton pushed away from them staggering to his feet and backing away. "Don't." He said his voice weak. "Don't pretend to care now."

They looked at him confused. "We aren't pretending." Virgil said reaching for him.

"I know you don't like me so please don't." Patton said broken.

"Why on earth would we not like you?" Roman asked.

Why would they like him? "I'm dumb and annoying and too emotional and just…" he was cut off by Logan hugging him followed quickly by Roman and Virgil.

"You are none of those things." Logan said firmly tearing up himself.

"We're sorry we made you feel that way." Virgil said. 

"We could never hate you." Roman added.

Patton wanted to believe them.

\----

Patton wasn't allowed near hot objects or sharp ones. Just in case. His room had been checked and had anything he could hurt himself with was removed. 

This didn't stop him from regressing more and more often. He didn't like whatever this was. It confused him and left him feeling broken. Like there was something horribly wrong with him. He knew this wasn't suppose to happen. There had to be something wrong with his Brain for this to keep happening.

He finally worked up the courage to ask Logan. "It sounds like age regression. I'm not surprised, out of all of us you do embody the more childish aspects." 

Age regression…."so I'm not broken?" 

Logan's gaze softened. "No. You aren't broken." Patton nodded not quite believing it. "Would you be comfortable with me taking care of you during one of these times?"

Patton hesitated. He was working on letting the others show him that they did care and this would be a good example. "Ok."

"If you are uncomfortable with it we can not." Logan said quickly.

Patton shook his head. "I think... it's a good idea I just...I don't want you to think differently of me." He confessed.

Logan pulled him into a hug. "I promise I will not look down on you for this." He said getting to the heart of the issue.

Patton nodded and took a deep breath. He could do this.

\---

"Look I drew a castle!" Patton said happily showing Logan his picture. Logan was a bit shocked at just how… healthy Patton seemed when he was little. His cognitive distortions didn't bother him when he was small. 

"Very well done." Logan said patting Patton's head. Patton beamed and hugged him before grabbing a fresh piece of paper.

Logan was going to have to insist that Patton do this more often since it was helping him so much. 

\---

Patton was hesitant to agree to Logan's idea. That Logan be his 'caregiver' and they make time for Patton to regress every other day. He wouldn't have to regress then but it was encouraged. 

He didn't know. He wanted to jump at the chance that Logan wanted to spend time with him. But...it wasn't because he was being him. He was being all weird. Weird kid Patton was who Logan wanted to spend time with. Still...it was better than nothing right?

Before long Virgil and Roman helped watch Patton while he was regressed. It made adult Patton feel awful. Why did he have to have this weird age thing for them to want to spend time with him? 

Frustrated he decided the go to Thomas about it. "I guess that's it." He finished catching Thomas up to speed.

Thomas took a minute to think over everything Patton had told him before speaking. "I don't think they hate you. I think if they did they wouldn't want to help you with this." 

Patton shrugged and looked away. Thomas put a hand on his shoulder and waited till Patton looked up. "You know we love you right? We just want to see you happy. Really happy not faking it. And we'll do wantever it takes to get you better."

Patton teared up before hugging him. "Thanks kiddo." 

"I think you're the kiddo in this situation." Thomas said lightly. 

Patton laughed. "Yeah...I guess I am." 

He smile genuinely. 

\---

It took him awhile to work up the nerve to talk to the others about it. They all said the same things Thomas did about wanting him happy by anyway they could help. And after months of fighting this internal struggle, his thoughts finally calmed without the need to regress first. 

He believed them.


	227. Sunflower yellow

Janus was baby. In that he was regressed to an infant. He was curled up on Logan's lap babbling wordlessly as Logan held him. Roman was in the other room making a bottle for the baby.

"I see." Logan said seriously nodding along as he listened to Janus babble. "That's a good point....we'll have to adjust that yes....oh indeed." 

Roman managed (barely) to not laugh as he brought in the bottle. He handed it over as he sat down next to them. 

Janus reached for Roman causing Logan to reluctantly hand him off. "You had him for the last hour." Roman reminded him.

"Well it's... that's..." Logan gave up. 

Roman laughed as he fed Janus. "Don't worry. He'll fall asleep soon and you can hold him again then." 

Logan agreed to that trying not to look to eager. 

\---

"Who do you like better me or Logan?" Roman asked out of the blue.

Janus blinked confused by the question. "Umm.."

"Roman I don't think that's fair making him pick favorites." Logan said though he wanted to know himself.

"Neither." Janus said taking both of his caregivers by surprise. "I like you both."

Roman and Logan looked at each other. "But." Janus continued. "Remus is my favorite."

"What?" They both said at the same time.

Janus laughed.


	228. Ruby red.

"Stop moving and let me braid your hair!" A regressed Roman snapped. 

Logan sighed, "Roman my hair isn't long enough for that." 

Roman pouted crossing his arms. 

Logan looked at him he thought about it before sighing again and waving his hand. His hair shifting so it was shoulder length. Roman beamed and hugged him before getting to work.

A half hour later Logan was walking around with an elegantly done braid and a no longer regressed Roman. 

"You can get rid of it now. I won't be upset." Roman said. 

Logan hesitated. Roman raised an eyebrow. "Unless you want to keep it."

"No no....well...maybe." Logan muttered.

Roman laughed a little. "Ok. I won't tell anyone." 

Logan smiled in thanks his hand going up to touch the braid. He wasn't going to be upset the next time Roman asked to do this.


	229. Icy blue

Patton watched as Janus tucked him in. "Need anything else cookie?" 

Patton wanted to ask him to stay but.... Janus sat down in the edge of the bed. "You can tell me anything." He said softly.

"Stay?" Patton asked afraid that Janus would say no.

Janus smiled at him. "Of course." He snuggled up against Patton and held him close. 

"And you won't leave when I'm asleep?" Patton asked worried.

"No. I won't leave. I'll stay aaaaaalll night." Janus promised before pressing a kiss to Patton's forehead. 

"Thank you." Patton said finally relaxing.

"Of course cookie." Janus said. "Sleep well."

Patton hummed happy as he closed his eyes. Safe in Janus' arms.


	230. Raspberry

Roman was having a rough day and had gotten a bit snippy to the point of getting into an argument with Virgil over nothing in particular. He just wanted to feel like he was worth something. 

“Honestly are you good for anything?” Virgil snapped expecting Roman to huff and list all the things he was good at. That didn’t happen. 

Roman froze before quietly saying, “No...not really.” And sinking out. Virgil stood there stunned before following him. He knocked on Roman’s door a few times before going ahead and opening it to find Roman curled up with his stuffed dragon crying silently. He had regressed.

Virgil almost left because of that. He wasn’t good with kids. He tried to avoid Roman when he was regressed because of that. But this was his problem to fix and he had to had least cheer Roman up before he could pass him off to one of the others. 

“Hey um..Do you want to talk about it?” Virgil asked sitting down across from him. Roman looked at him with wet eyes before hiding his face in the dragon’s back. 

“I just not feel good day.” Roman said small. 

Virgil nodded. “Do you know something that would make you feel better?” 

Roman hesitated. “Hug?” Virgil pulled Roman into his lap and cuddled him. 

“Better?” Virgil asked hoping this was the right move. 

“Mm!” Roman replied. Virgil was going to have to apologize once Roman was bigger, then they could talk about the issue of Roman’s self doubt. But for now Virgil was going to cheer the little up. Even if that meant cuddling for the next hour.


	231. Ivory

It was rather odd how whenever Thomas regressed so did Remus. Only Remus. Janus and Logan agreed that it must just affect Remus due to Thomas no longer being able to have most of the thoughts that made up Remus. Whatever the reason, Remus always showed up Regressed at the same time Thomas dropped and would spend the whole time with him until he wasn’t regressed anymore.

So Thomas and Remus were sitting on the floor playing with legos. Logan was watching them today and pointing out ways to make their creations more stable. Advice they only half listened to. 

Logan also had to stop Remus from eating the pieces. “If you eat them then you can’t make anything.” He said trying to find a reason that the little would understand. That seemed to get through to Remus as he spit out the block that he had in his mouth. At least until he saw a different one and immediately popped it into his mouth. 

Logan sighed giving up. It wouldn’t hurt Remus to eat them, he was just concerned that Thomas would pick it up. Thomas however seemed to be a few years older than the toddler age Remus was at so sticking everything in his mouth was less appealing thankfully.

“Look.” Thomas said showing off the small lego house and car he had built. 

“Good job!” Logan said ruffling his hair. “It’s even stable this time!”

“Yeah! Can’t have fallen over.” Thomas said, turning back so he could add more details to the house. 

Remus looked up and whined. “I get house too?” 

“You can make one.” Logan said slightly confused. 

Remus whined again and made grabby hands for Thomas’ house. Thomas paused before, “We can share.” Remus beamed at that and grabbed a headless lego man to put in the house. 

Logan could tell Thomas was coming out of his regression as Remus’ speech got more and more articulated and graphic. “Well It’s been fun but I have-” Logan held up a hand stopping him from continuing his sentence. 

“Have fun with it.” Logan said blandly. Remus laughed and sunk out.

Thomas rolled his eyes. “You know he’s a lot less annoying small.” 

Logan’s lips twitched. “I’ll agree with that.”


	232. Cotton candy or the ballpit.

Roman’s ability to make anything comes in handy when Patton and Thomas were regressed. They both wanted a lot of stuff to play with and Roman was more than happy to accommodate them. Today it was a swim pool ball pit. 

“Blue!” Patton said holding up a blue plastic ball. Roman smiled at him. 

“That’s right! Good job!” Roman praised. 

Thomas held up a yellow ball. “What’s this?” 

“Yellow.” Patton said. 

“Yellow.” Thomas repeated. 

Roman was proud of them for working together like this. Thomas continued to pick up balls and ask what color they were, more often than not Patton got the color right. When he didn’t Roman would speak up with the correct color. 

Everything was going well until Janus and Remus showed up regressed. “Can we play too?” Roman hesitated. Remus played rough but…

“Alright. But be careful!” Roman said as Remus jumped in the ball pit with Janus. They started throwing balls at each other. 

Roman got in the ball pit between the two pairs so he could block any strays from hitting the two who were still naming colors. 

Then Virgil and Logan showed up. Roman hoped at first that they were here to help but that hope was crushed when They were both regressed and wanting to play too. Roman agreed despite having his hands full anyway. 

Logan went over to Play with Patton and Thomas and Virgil went to Play with Remus and Janus. 

“What color is this?” 

“Catch!” 

“Ro what color?” 

“Missed it!” 

“Ro!” 

“Ro!”

Roman dropped. He started silently crying from the stress and everyone else froze. The ballpit was gone and Roman was moved to sit on the couch. “Hey it’s ok. Breath.” Virgil said no longer regressed.

“Did you get overwhelmed buddy?” Thomas asked. 

Roman nodded and sniffed. “Sorry.” 

“No. It’s not your fault.” Patton said quickly. 

“We shouldn’t have made sure you could handle it before jumping in.” Janus said. 

Logan hugged Roman who curled up against him before yawning. “Someone’s worn out.” 

“Naptime?” Patton asked grabbing a blanket. 

Roman nodded and let himself be tucked in on the couch. “Sleep well.” 

They would be more careful not to overwhelm him next time.


	233. puke green

Nothing grossed Remus out...when he was big. When he was little on the other hand it didn’t take much to make him uncomfortable. So when Thomas got sick he was there to help take care of him...until he regressed.

He tried to stay big and help but as soon as Thomas started vomiting he ran off and hid. Janus found him hiding in his closet. “What’s wrong?” 

“Gross.” Remus whimpered. 

It clicked for Janus that he was regressed and dropped to his knees next to him. “It’s ok. You don’t have to go back downstairs ok?” 

Remus teared up, “But...gotta help?” 

“Not right now baby.” Janus said softly. 

Remus hugged him. He apologised to Thomas after he wasn’t regressed anymore and Thomas assured him it was fine.


	234. Royal purple, royal red part two.

Virgil was worried about Roman. Everyone was worried about Roman. He was closed off and Virgil knew it was Janus' fault.

"What did you do?" Virgil demanded after he cornered Janus. Janus looked extremely guilty.

"I'm trying to fix it." Janus said avoiding the question. 

"What. Did. You. Do?" Virgil repeated.

"I may have....made Roman think he was....evil." janus said shifting uncomfortable. 

Virgil blinked,"You did what?"

"Not on purpose!" Janus said quickly.

"Well you need to tell him he isn't!" Virgil said.

"I've tried that! He won't listen to me!" Janus snapped. "I've tried everything! Nothing's worked!"

"Then you haven't tried hard enough!' virgil snapped. "You can't....he can't believe that. He isn't evil." Virgil said his voice weak. "He can't go through what I did."

Ah. 

"How did you stop believing you were the bad guy?" Janus asked.

Virgil stiffened. He was silent for a minute before speaking. "I didn't."

\----

Roman was staring at the mirror.

'Evil twin' 

He was wasn't he? Remus was much nicer than he showed while Roman lashed out constantly.

Remus was the good twin. And if Remus was the good twin where did that leave Roman? 

The red in his sash was dull, as were his eyes. The dark circles under his eyes made his pale skin look almost ghostly. 

He wanted to regress and just forget about all of this. He wanted to go back to being good.

But was he ever really good? It did he just believe that he was? Did he really trick everyone expect Janus that he was good? He must have.

There was a knock at his door. He opened it to find Virgil on the other side.

"Oh. What did you need?" Roman asked blankly.

Virgil winced at Roman's tone. "I wanted to talk to you."

Roman nodded and stepped back to let Virgil into his wrecked room. Virgil frowned at the mess. Virgil opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. How did he start? "You aren't evil."

Roman sighed deeply at that. "I am." 

"No you aren't!" Virgil snapped putting some bite in us tone to make up for the lack of emotion in Roman's.

"Yes. I am. If Remus is good than I have to be." Roman explained calmly.

Virgil blinked. Since when was Remus good? "So what if Remus is good," virgil had to force the last word out as Remus and good just did not connect in his mind. "That doesn't mean you have to be evil."

"One of us is the evil twin."

"There doesn't have to be an evil twin!" Virgil said.

Roman paused before looking at Virgil for the first time with some emotion. Surprise and hope. "Reawy?" Roman asked Regressed.

Virgil nodded. "You aren't evil Roman."

Roman teared up, finally letting himself feel just how hurt he was over all of this. Virgil held him as he cried.

Janus listened from outside the door guilt eating at him. At least Roman listened to someone.


	235. Yellow indigo swirl

Logan and Janus had an arrangement. When one of them regressed the other took care of them. The others knew about their age regression and even offered to watch them but Janus and Logan refused politely. Choosing instead of take care of each other.

So when in the middle of a video Logan dropped Janus was quick to swoop in and call it a day. He got Logan into his star pj's and set him up with a kids show about space before making the little a snack. 

"Fanks Deedee." Logan said snuggling up against Janus' as they watched the t.v.

Janus pressed a kiss to the top of Logan's head. "anytime star."

\---

When Janus regressed during an argument with Roman, Logan stepped in to pause it before Roman could drag the little into adult Janus' problems. Roman was quick to apologise even before he said anything that could hurt the little's feelings. His anger replaced with concern. Logan assured him that Janus was fine but to continue their 'discussion' at a later date. 

Roman agreed and left Logan to take care of the little one was chewing on the end of Logan's tie. Logan got his gold paci and replaced his tie end with it. 

He then changed Janus into his little outfit, a large fluffy sweater and shorts. He put his paci clip on and brushed out Janus' hair as the baby dozed. 

Janus whimpered as Logan stood up to go get the little a bottle. "I'll be back. Don't fret." Logan said soothingly as he ran a hand through Janus' hair.

Janus made grabby hands at him and Logan smiled before picking him up and taking him with him. He had to made the bottle one handed but he didn't mind as Janus rested his head on Logan's shoulder. 

Janus fell asleep half way through the bottle and Logan tucked him in. He pressed a kiss to the little's for head. "Sleep well honey bee." 

They took care of each other. And they wouldn't change a single thing about it.


	236. Baby pink.

Emile didn't regress. He was sure that if he did he would have noticed. Right? 

Remy came home to find Emile regressed...again. He sighed. He could not understand why his boyfriend wouldn't admit to regressing. He still smiled when Emile looked over at him, beaming as he sat at the kitchen table coloring with a lion stuffie sitting on the table next to him with it's own coloring book.

"Rem!" Emile held up his coloring book to show the very outside the lines coloring he did. "Look!"

"I see that bud." Remy said ruffling the little's hair before shrugging out of his jacket and removing his sunglasses.

He say down next to Emile and set about 'helping' lion with it's coloring. Emile slowly shifted out of his regressed state and didn't really seem to notice that he had been regressed. "How was work?" He asked still coloring far neater now.

Remy shrugged, "It was fine." 

Emile looked at him. "You sure?"

Remy watched Emile put his crayon down. He was going into therapy mode. "Babe you are so blind."

"Huh?"

"Look! You clearly regress!" Remy said pointing at the picture that was messy next to a very neat picture. 

Emile frowned. "I....we were talking about you." He said trying the change the subject.

"This is worrying me." Remy said causing Emile to stiffen.

"It's fine." Emile said firmly. "I don't-" 

"Explain this then." Remy said tapping the messy picture.

Emile was silent. 

Remy sighed. "There isn't anything wrong with regressing." 

"There is for me. I have to be an adult." Emile argued.

Remy put a hand on Emile's cheek. "Not all the time. You are allowed to relax."

"But if someone needs me-" 

"You need time for yourself." Remy said firmly. 

Emile sighed. He leaned against Remy. "Fine."

Remy wished he didn't feel so awful for finally getting through to his boyfriend.

"You don't have to handle this alone." Remy reminded him.

Emile nodded. "Ok."

Remy hugged him. This would be ok.


	237. Royal yellow

Janus wasn't allowed near Roman anymore. The others didn't want him to upset him again so they made him keep his distant. And since Roman was always around the others now....

Janus was alone in his room... again.

He was fighting off this strange fuzziness that was effecting his thinking. He needed to be able to think to fix this! He had to make it up to Roman.

There was a knock at the door. Roman peeked his head in. He had been worried about his caregiver. "Janus?" 

Janus sniffed and hid his face as the fuzziness got worse. "Sorry."

Roman walked over and sat down next to him. "Hey. I forgive you."

"I don't forgive me." He whispered dropping. This was weird. He felt....younger. 

Roman gasped as he pulled back the covers to show a kid Deceit. He didn't even know Janus regressed. He didn't think anyone did. "janus?"

Janus sobbed and Roman pulled him into a hug. "everyone hates me! I didn't mean hurt you!"

Roman tightened his grip on the little. "shhh it's ok. You don't have to worry about it now buddy. That's big people stuff and you're too little for that right now."

Janus sniffed. "Sorry." 

"It's ok." Roman said rocking him back and forth a little. Virgil stuck his head in ready to defend Roman and was shocked to find Roman holding a little Janus.

"He's little?" Virgil yelled causing Janus to whimper and hide his face in Roman's chest. Roman shot Virgil a glare.

"Yes. He thinks everyone hates him. Which isn't true is it?" Roman asked a hard edge to his tone as he held Janus protectively. 

"N-no. No we don't." Virgil said. Janus peeked up at him. 

"Reawy?" He asked small.

"Really." Virgil said moving closer. "Janus I'm sorry. We haven't been treating you fairly. We didn't take into account that you were trying to fix your mistake." 

Janus nodded. "I did!" 

Roman hugged him. "Yes you did. Now let's not worry about that at the moment. How does a snack sound?" 

"Chicken nuggets?" Janus asked shyly. 

"If you want." Roman said standing holding Janus.

"Dino shaped?" Janus asked.

Roman laughed, "Yeah we can make them dino shaped." He said as they left to get him his snack. They would talk more about that later before for now they had a little to take care of.


	238. Cornflower blue

Patton liked that he was the only one that regressed. It made it special. It was his thing. Even if the others didn’t always understand it completely they accepted and supported it. They never shamed him for dropping at a bad time or needing a break. 

Still it was a little awkward for them to take care of him at first. Not quite getting that he didn’t just shape change into a kid, he was a kid again. This led to a few rather confusing moments. For everyone except Logan who had a better grasp on it than any of the others and was surprisingly good at taking care of Little Patton.So Logan was left to step when one of the other sides were a bit lost on what to do. 

\---

“No you need to cut his food up for him.” Logan said to a confused Roman as Patton wasn’t eating his steak. 

“Why? Can’t he do it?” Roman asked.

“Roman he’s five. He doesn’t have the arm strength nor shOULD YOU GIVE HIM A KNIFE!” Logan yelped as he snached the knife up before the Little could. Roman looked sheepish as he took the knife and cut up Patton’s food for him.

\---

“DON’T HOLD HIM UPSIDE DOWN!” Logan yelled as he walked in on Remus holding a toddler Patton by the feet. Remus held Patton who was very confused and getting fussy out to Logan who quickly took him. He carefully flipped him right side up and made sure he was alright before sighing. “Ok. Let’s try this again. This is how you hold a child this young-

\---

Janus was doing well...Until it came time for him to get Patton to sleep. Patton cried loudly at being left in his crib. Janus would pick him up and rock him until he stopped crying but Patton would just pick up crying again every time he was set down again. 

“You need to get him asleep before he set him down.” Logan said from the doorway. 

“How?” 

“Try singing.” Logan suggested. He watched as Janus sung Patton to sleep before setting him down. This time Patton was asleep and therefore didn’t cry. 

Janus smiled to himself at his success.

\----

Virgil was scared to do anything with Patton. Patton was seven and very insisted on Virgil be the one to play with him. Logan put a hand on Virgil’s shoulder, “You’ll do fine.” 

“What if he gets hurt?” Virgil asked.

“Is he going to with you watching him?” Logan asked doubtful.

Virgil relaxed a little. “I guess not.” 

Logan patted his shoulder. “I’ll be here if you need help.” 

Virgil nodded and turned his attention to the game that Patton was making up. 

\---

Patton approached Logan slowly, nervous. “Logan?” 

“Yes?” Logan looked up at Patton.

“I was wondering...If you don’t mind...you don’t have to if you don’t want to! But…” Patton stuttered.

Logan grabbed Patton’s hand to calm him. “What do you need?” 

“Will you be my caregiver?” Patton asked quietly. 

Logan blinked in surprise. “Me? Why not one of the others?” 

“Because If we’re honest You’re the best at it...and you’ve kinda been doing it already anyway.” Patton said sheepish.

Logan blinked again. He hadn’t noticed that. He smiled. “Of course Patton.” Patton squealed and hugged him. 

It was nice to have support.


	239. Shadow Green.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so...my mental health is kinda bad today so if any of the chapters are too dark please let me know. Thanks.

Remus wasn't sure about this 'regression' thing that everyone started talking about after it seemed his brother started doing it. It was 'coping' and 'healthy' and mind numbing and safe and-

Remus scowled as he shook his head. He was NOT going to do something that his brother did! Not when everyone else was sooo sure it was a good thing. Remus wasn't good. He was nasty and disturbing and proud of that! 

So why the hell did he want to be cuddled? Why was he so fucking jealous when Patton hugged Roman? Or Janus played dress up with him? Or Logan read him stories? Or when Virgil played kid games with him? Or when Thomas.....liked him.

Thomas taking about how proud he was of Roman for finding a coping method and being brave enough to share it. For asking for help. Thomas being there and taking care of Roman while Remus who did the same thing was-

Remus growled. No! Nonono! He Did Not Regress! He was intrusive thoughts! Dark creativity! He was NOT childish! Or innocent! Or anything everyone expects from a regressor.

He...he was...was....

Crying. And small. And alone. 

He regressed and he wasn't going to let anyone ever know. 

Besides, they wouldn't believe him anyways.


	240. Dark crimson. Part two of Shadow Green.

Roman wasn't fond of regressing. In fact he was kind of pushed into by Janus' demanding he take care of himself so he found Age regression, thought it would be weird enough for everyone to just accept that he would do it on his own and he could use that time to work. 

This backfired. They were all highly supportive and wanted to take care of him while he was small. Worse of all Thomas was proud of him for this???? He couldn't back out now! 

But having everyone constantly checking up on him was cutting into his work time to the point that he needed someone to help him. And there was only one person that he could ask.

"Remus?" 

\----

Remus was shifted back to a kid and was dressed like Roman was when he was regressed. 

(It's simple, Roman told him, you pretend to be me regressed that way I can get some work done!)

Well Remus couldn't just refuse to help his dear brother. Not when it gave him a chance to try this whole being watched thing out without anyone knowing it was him. 

He was sitting on Patton's lap being cuddled as a disney movie played. He was eating cookies and drinking from a sippy cup. He was having a great time and he wished he could say he hated it but....

"You're quiet today Roman." Patton said. 

"Sleepy." Remus said honestly. 

"Awww. After the movie we can take you to your room for a nap." Alarm bells went off in Remus' head but he had no choice but to agree. 

As soon as the movie was over he ran off to Roman's room. "Hide Patton's coming." He hissed at Roman who scrambled to get in the closet before Patton could step into the room.

They both sigh a breath of relief when Patton left. 

\---

Remus took up being regressed for Roman after that. Not only did he adore being taken care of and letting himself be little bit he was racking up a large stack of IOU's from Roman. 

It couldn't be better! 

So of course it fell apart. 

They forgot one simple flaw in their plan. Janus.

The snake side was quick to spot that it wasn't in fact Roman running around. The first time he thought it was a prank that Remus would show himself and release Roman from where ever he had been keeping him. Then Roman showed up and claimed it had been him all afternoon. 

So Janus decided to keep an eye on both of them trying to figure out what they were up to. After a few more times he figured it out.

\---

"Why have you been pretending to be Roman?" Janus asked after Patton left the room. The question snapped Remus out of regression.

Remus froze. "Wha-what?" He stuttered before seeing the look on Janus' face. He wasn't going to be able to lie his way out of this. "Ok fine....Roman asked me to do this."

An interesting statement, one Janus would return to. "And you agreed?" Janus asked.

"Well he owes me now." Remus said. 

"And you haven't once tried to ruin Roman's reputation?" Janus said raising an eyebrow.

Remus looked down at his feet. "I like being small an havin people take care of me. No one would do it if they knew it was me." He confessed dropping, his eyes watery.

Janus' gaze softened and he pulled Remus into his arms. "I think you would be surprised." Janus said. 

Remus tensed. "You won't tell anyone will you?" Remus asked.

"No...no that's for you and Roman to do. And I do expect you to come clean when you're ready." He said firmly. 

Remus nodded and buried his face in Janus' shoulder. "Thanks dee."

"Of course." Janus said softly. They would come clean ...in time. For now there wasn't any real harm in them keeping up this charade.


	241. Maroon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all of your support yesterday. It helped more than you know. A couple people suggested I take a break from writing, something I have no interest in doing mostly because this is my coping method. Writing makes me feel better and also my therapist told me to do it.   
>  Writing gives me an escape from the problems that I deal with in everyday life and seeing your comments really makes my day so. Thank you. For being here for all of this with me.   
> Ok ok. Enough rambling. On to the story.

"You want me to do this?" Remus asked not sure he had heard Patton correctly.

"Well everyone else if busy. Besides if you just use a little self control it'll be fine!" Patton said as he held a regressed toddler Roman, who was sucking on his fingers staring at Remus.

"Me? Self control?" Remus laughed nervously. He was never around any of the others when they were regressed and when he regressed he went feral so he had no experience with this.

Patton handed Roman over,"You'll do fine!" He said with a smile before sinking out. 

"Patton wait!" Remus cried holding Roman out at arms length from his body. "I need more than that! How do you take care of a baby?!?!"

Patton was already gone.

\----

Remus was perched on the back of the couch as far away from Roman, who was crawling around on the floor playing with soft toys, as he could be. He watched Roman with single minded focus which he was very good at. You can't be intrusive thoughts if your weren't stubborn enough to stick to your goals.

Roman would hold up things and babble about them, either to himself or Remus he wasn't sure. But either way Remus found it cute. Kinda wanted his brain to stop telling him to hurt Roman. He pulled him himself against the wall, as if the couple extra inches would save Roman from the thoughts in his head. How his hands would twitch ready to summon a weapon to attack with.

"Re re re. Wov you." Roman babbled. 

Remus froze. What did he just say? There's.... there's no way he was talking about him! Then Roman looked at Remus dead in the eyes and said it again as he made grabby hands for him.

Remus against his better judgement, got off the couch and made his way over to Roman picking him up and this time holding him to his chest. 

"You love me?" Remus asked his voice breaking on the word 'me'.

Roman replied by kissing Remus' cheek and then patting it before looking back at the stuffed rattle giraffe that he was holding. 

Screw lack of self control. No on not even himself was laying a finger on this angel.

\----

Patton got back and smiled in success at the fact Remus managed to overcome his fear. He had been nearby watching just in case Remus really couldn't control his thoughts. Now Remus was reading a storybook to Roman who was sitting in his lap chewing on a rattle. 

"Hi! How did it go?' he asked brightly. 

"Good." Remus said protectively curling around Roman a little bit. 

Patton knew he wasn't getting Roman back anytime soon. He was fine with that.


	242. Copper

"What? There's no way I'm doing that!" Roman protested as toddler Janus tugged at his pant leg. 

"Roman he wants you to watch him. He won't be happy with anyone else." Patton said crossing his arms.

"Besides you do owe him for making fun of his name." Virgil pointed out. Roman grumbled and picked Janus up. Janus had apologized for calling him evil. Still Roman didn't trust him. He was half sure this was just another trick.

"Fine. But do I have to do this alone?" Roman asked as Janus started chewing on his sash. He tugged the fabric out of the little's mouth.

"Everyone is busy." Patton said as he and Virgil left.

"I'm busy too!" He yelled after them. They didn't respond. He sighed and set Janus down on his bed. He summoned a few toys and sat down at his desk to work.

He ignored the babbling behind him for a few minutes before he looked over and jumped out of his chair just in time to catch Janus who was falling off the side of the bed. "Careful!" Roman scowled heart pounding.

Janus' lower lips quivered before he started bawling. Roman started panicking more. "Oh nonono! Don't cry! Please don't cry!" 

Janus sniffed as Roman rocked him back and forth. "Lowd." Janus whimpered.

Roman hesitated, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." 

Janus sniffed again and curled up against Roman. Roman sighed. He sat down on the bed. He guessed Janus wasn't faking it after all.

Still. Why did he want Roman to watch him. "It's not like you even like me." Roman muttered. "No one really does. I'm terrible."

Janus looked at him with wide eyes. "Best!" Janus said smacking his face. 

Roman stared in shock. "What?" 

"No bad! Best!" Janus argued. 

"You think I'm the best?" Roman said disbelieving.

Janus nodded firmly. "Hero."

Roman paused at that. He...he was a hero wasn't he? Roman smiled and hugged Janus. "Thanks tiny tot."

Janus beamed at him.


	243. Tangerine

They were all out on a picnic. It was the first one that Janus and Remus had been invited to as well so both of them were acting on their best behavior. Which for Janus was stiff politeness and for Remus was just not attacking anyone.

The air was tense and a bit stressful. To the point that Janus was looking forward to Roman getting tired of his brother and kicking them out so he could regress. That wasn't happening. Everytime Roman got close to doing it Patton or Logan calmed him down. Janus wasn't going to leave until this was over but he needed to Regress. He could feel that brain fog seep in. 

"You ok?" Remus asked quietly noticing how Janus hadn't said anything in twenty minutes. Janus found he had already gone non verbal and that shot his stress level up. He tapped Remus' hand twice. Their code for him being non verbal and small.

Remus nodded. He needed to get Janus out of here. Unfortunately, Janus had his reasons for sticking around this long. Right? Janus would have left by now if he didn't want to be here. Remus decided to trust him on this.

Janus was frustrated that Remus wasn't doing anything! He teared up as he dropped. Everyone stopped talking as they looked at him. 

"Janus?" Patton asked gently putting a hand on the little's shoulder. 

Janus sobbed and hid his face in his hands as Remus cursed. "I didn't know he was that far gone."

"What do you mean?" Logan asked.

Remus pulled Janus into his lap as the little shifted down to young child size shocking everyone else. "Hey. No it's ok." Janus shook his head and kept crying. 

"He's age regressed." Logan said, giving an explanation for the others. 

"Oh. Oh no." Virgil said.

Roman looked upset. "Is he going to be alright?" 

Remus frowned. "I don't know. Once he gets worked up it's hard to calm him down." Remus explain as he softly held Janus who clung to him as he cried.

He was tired. And little. And everyone knows and and...he just wants to sleep!

"Is someone grumpy because they are tired?" Patton asked noticing Janus yawned. Janus nodded as he rubbed at his eyes.

Roman snapped his fingers and a large bed half covered in pillows appeared. "Is that good?" He asked nervously.

Remus smiled at them. Soft, "yeah that's good." He tucked Janus in. "Sleep well precious." He surprised the others by giving Janus a kiss to the forehead before stepping back. "Yeah he'll be out for awhile."

Everyone was staring at him. "What?" Remus asked.

"I didn't know you...I mean... you're soft." Roman said.

"I can still kick your ass." Remus warned.

Roman laughed. He shouldn't have down that.

Janus slept peacefully unaware of the fighting that was happening a short distance away.


	244. Mint

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HUMAN AU

Remy was drinking plain black coffee. It wasn't his favorite but he absolutely hated it today. And he knew what that meant.

He groaned causing Remus to look up at him. "What's up sleepyhead?" 

"I'm gonna be small today." Remy said dejected. Remus frowned at his tone. 

"You love being little." Remus said.

Remy shrugged. "Not today. I had plans today. I was going to go shopping and watch a movie."

"We can still do that." Remus said. "If you really want to."

Remy paused. He could still do that… with Remus' help. "Yeah...yeah ok."

\----

Shopping was a little off track as Remy kept dragging them to the candy or toy sections. Remus ended up buying him a bag of lollies and a stuffed koala, bribing him into being good. (Not that he wasn't good anyway.)

They then went to grab something to eat before heading home. Remy got quiet as he played with his koala. 

"What's up sleepyhead?" Remus asked.

Remy shrugged. "Just lonely." 

"Lonely?" Remus asked. "I'm here."

"Yeah but…. you're big. An I'm the only one little." Remy said hugged the stuffed animal and looked out the window.

Oh. He wanted some little friends. That made sense. Remus would have to see if his caregiver friend, Logan would be willing to have a playdate.

\---

Remy was surprised when the doorbell rang. He watched Remus open the door and let three people in. 

This was weird. They never had people over when Remy was little. Then he remembered he was going to meet some other littles. He was excited and nervous at the same time. 

Two of the three people ran over to him. "I'm Emile." One said holding out his hand. Remy shook it staring at Emile's pink hair.

"I'm Thomas. You're Remy right?" Thomas said shaking his hand after Emile. 

"Hahuh." Remy said nodding excited slipping further into Little space. "I'm four."

"I'm seven." Thomas said.

"I'm ten. But sometimes I'm younger." Emile said.

Remy didn't care as long as they were willing to play with him. He quickly dragged them into a game of candyland.

\---

Remus and Logan sat drinking coffee watching the little's play. "Thank you for agreeing to this." Remus said.

"Of course. It's good for them to meet new people. And Remy seems to be having fun." Logan pointed out.

"Yeah." Remus said subdued.

"Are you alright?" Logan asked.

"It's nothing." Remus said taking a sip.

"If it is bothering you it isn't nothing." Logan said firmly. "We've been friends for years. Talk to me." 

True they had been friends before Remus even met Remy. So maybe it would be save to share his worries. "Am I doing a good job?" 

Logan didn't expect that question. "Of what?" He asked worried that Remus was running into trouble at work.

"Of taking care of him." Remus said looking at Remy. "He's lonely."

"Just because he wants friends doesn't mean you are doing a bad job. The fact that he trusts you enough to be little and open about his feelings shows that you've been doing a fantastic job." Logan said honestly.

"I suppose." Remus agreed reluctantly.

"I know so. If he wasn't happy with you he would say something. From the times I met him not regressed he doesn't hold back his thoughts." Logan said.

Remus laughed. "That's true….thanks L."

"Anytime." Logan said.


	245. Double bubble pink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Human au.

Thomas and Emile were enjoying playing/ watching Remy. He was adorable and very friendly. He was sure to include both of them in any game even if it was a two player one. Or share his toys which, while the other two were a bit two big for at the moment found it cute.

"You two want snacks? Bubby makes great snacks!" Remy said.

"Oooo!" Emile said excites.

"Lo can we have snacks?" Thomas asked. 

Logan frowned. "I forgot to bring some."

"That's ok. I have plenty." Remus said standing and opening a cupboard. Inside was a large selection of snacks. Logan blinked.

"You sure you have enough?" He asked drily.

"Depends on how much the little monster wants to eat in a day." Remus said as Remy ran up to him. He heard the word monster and growled. Remus laughed and ruffled his hair. "What will it be today?" He asked.

Remy started to speak before looking back to Thomas and Emile. "What do you guyses want? Dares cheese checkers an fish snacks an fruit snacks an choco an-" 

Thomas laughed. "Don't run out of breath." 

Remy frowned confused. Why would he run out of breath? An… he didn't say anything funny. Why was Thomas laughing? 

He looked at Remus bewildered. Remus just rolled his eyes and pulled out one of everything for them to choose from. Remy didn't feel hungry anymore. He felt like he was missing something.

Emile and Thomas ate their snacks quickly before going back and playing. Remy sat at the table with Remus and Logan slowly coming out of his regression. 

"You ok?" Remus asked.

"Just tired babes." Remy said in his adult tone. 

"Did you have fun?" Logan asked.

Remy smiled. "It was great...they won't be upset if I go nap will they?" 

Logan shook his head. "We need to get going anyway." 

"Feel free to drop by anytime." Remus said.

After the goodbyes they left. Remy rolled his eyes over Thomas' comment, getting it now. He frowned. Should he talk less in little space?

…

\----

Thomas and Emile were excited they were going back for another playdate with Remy. Emile was a lot younger this time. They bounced as they entered the apartment and rushed over to where Remy sat. Remy beamed and waved but didn’t say anything.

The two didn’t think anything of it until it had been nearly an hour and Remy still hadn’t said anything. “Does your throat hurt?” Thomas asked.

Remy shook his head.

“Do you got nothin to say?” Emile asked. 

Remy shrugged, “I guess? Sorry.” 

“No It’s ok if you don’t talk.” Thomas said. “We just like it when you talk.” 

“Really?” Remy asked.

“Yeah!” Thomas said.

Remy talked after that.


	246. honey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this solely from being pissed off at my mother for saying they/them wasn't acceptable pronouns. (Pronouns that I use) SO HAVE NON BINERY BABY! *Gentle yeets over story*

"Happy baby boy." Patton said hugging Janus. Janus brushed off the unease he felt at the phase. Patton said that all the time to him when he was regressed and I wasn't the babying that made him uncomfortable. It was the 'boy' part. Which was stupid. Thomas was male so all of them were male. End of story. At least that's what he told himself.

Janus looked in the mirror and frowned. He- no. They didn't feel right about this. About not being male. They didn't want to have to tell the others that they used they/them pronouns. How would the rest of them respond? 

He was terrified to find out. It was ok for other people but...he wasn't a real person. This could be seen as a flaw. Something that had to be fixed. 

'thomas is male so he/him pronouns all around.' Logan once said. 

No. It would be for the best if Janus just ignored it. 

Sadly for him. Little Janus didn't agree with that.

\---

"How's my little boy doing?" Patton asked as a regressed janus walked into the living room where everyone else was. They burst out crying at the phase.

"What's wrong?" Patton asked, rushing over followed close behind by Remus and Logan.

"Not boy!" Janus cried and hugged themself. 

"What do you mean?" Logan asked slowly.

Janus whimpered. They kept crying. "Not he. They." He said, trying to explain.

The others got it. "You're non binary." 

Janus whimpered again and took a step back.

"Oh. Sweetie no it's ok." Patton said. "No one is mad. Just a little confused is all." 

Remus pulled Janus into his arms. "It's ok." He said soothing Janus' crying. "Do you have a different name?"

Janus shook their head. "You reawy not mad?" They asked hopefully.

"No one is mad." Remus promised. Janus hugged him. 

"We care about you. Sorry you felt like you couldn't tell us." Logan said gently.

Janus shifted so they could give Logan a hug. It was fine. Everyone was supportive. Everything was going to be alright.

\---

"Bubby." Roman suggested a new Nick name for Janus. Janus shook their head.

"Pup." Janus stuck their tongue out at the suggestion.

"Honeybee?" Remus asked. 

Janus thought about it before grinning and nodding. "Ok honeybee." 

Janus paused."thanks you." They said.

"For what?" Roman asked.

"Not hated me." Janus said shyly.

Roman and Remus hug them between them. "We could never hate you honeybee." 

Janus believed them.


	247. Lemonade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Human Au

After a few play dates, Remus suggested they all go to the park. The littles were thrilled with the idea and they quickly planned a whole day for it.

They were busy playing on the swings when a man walked over to them. Thomas was instantly protective. Stepping between the other two and this strangers. The stranger took a step back before stuttering. "Can I have a turn?" 

Before they could answer a shorter man ran over. "Janus what have i told you about running off?" 

Janus looked down. "Sorry v." 

V seemed to notice the other three and put an arm around Janus. "Excuse us." 

"But the swing" janus asked looking back.

Remy was the first to piece it together. "He's a little too!" 

Emile looked Janus up and down. "He is?" 

Janus gasped. "V! V! They little!" 

V looked unsure. He looked at Thomas. "Are you their Caregiver?" 

Thomas was tempted to lie and say yes. But he knew emile would call him out on it. "No. They're over there." He pointed to where Remus and Logan where talking a ways away near the picnic tables. Both not noticing the other men that had arrived yet.

V bit his lip. "Ok. I'm going to go talk to them. You better not hurt him." He warned before patting Janus' shoulder and waling away.

"I'm Janus!" He said as soon as V had walked off. 

"Emile! This is Thomas and Remy!" Emile said

"You want to go on the swings?" Thomas asked. Janus beamed at him and nodded.

\----

"Excuse me." Remus looked up at the emo the had walked over. He looked passed him on the littles and found someone else swinging with them. Thomas was pushing him on the swing so he couldn't have been upset about it. 

"Yes?" Logan said.

"Um...hi. ok. I'm Virgil. You two are caregiver for this three right? That's what the one in the star shirt said." Virgil said nervously.

"Thomas. Yes."Logan said nodding.

"Why do you want to know?" Remus asked crossing his arms.

"Well... I'm never...um...met other caregivers before so...ok this was a dumb idea. I'll just get out of your hair." Virgil said.

"Whoa. Hold on. I take it yellow hair is with you?" Remus said.

"Janus. Yes. He wanted to play on the swings. I hope that isn't a problem. We can leave if it is." Virgil assured them.

"Stop trying to run. We won't bite." Remus said rolling his eyes. "Remus." He said holding out his hand. "This nerd is Logan." Logan rolled his eyes.

Virgil smiled slightly. "Do you mind if I stick around?" 

"I just told you to not run off."

"Remus." Logan said.

"No we don't mind." 

\---

After a half hour Remy was dragging Janus over to their caregivers. "Bubby! Met Jan! He little like me! Even littler sometimes! Baby little!" 

"Oh wow. It's good to meet you Janus." Remus said using his name instead of the nickname Remy called him. 

Janus waved shyly. "Hi." 

"Can Jan come over and play at home? I want to show him my teddy, and my colorings and my dino sheets and-" 

Remus ruffled Remy's hair. He glanced at Virgil who had gotten more comfortable around them. He nodded. "Sure! We'll plan a play date."

Remy hugged Remus before grabbing Janus' hand and dragging him back off to play.

Logan chuckled. Virgil looked at him. "Remy has a new best friend it seems." 

"And Janus has one too whether he likes it or not." Remus said. He realized how that sounded and continued. "Remy isn't going to give up on this friendship." He clarified making Virgil relax. 

"Well I guess we should exchange numbers." Virgil said pulling out his phone. He didn't expect this when coming to the park but he's glad it did happen. Janus needed some friends.


	248. Age what now?

Janus spent a lot of time alone. A LOT of time. Not that he could help it. No one except Remus wanted to be around him and Remus didn't like sitting still or staying in one place for long. 

In other words, Janus was lonely.

So he wasn’t surprised when he started getting mind numbingly bored. He was surprised by the fact he started cuddling pillows and soft things while in this state of boredom. He would slowly start thinking again and find he had curled up in a pile of every pillow he could find. It was…. Peculiar. 

But he accepted it as just something that comforted him. And he wasn’t one to deny himself comfort. So he started just holding pillows when he was sitting down or not really doing anything. Soon however it wasn’t as fulfilling as it had been before. 

Then he found a beat up old teddy bear while clearing out his closet. He sat on his bed staring at it laying limp in his hands for a long time before he got up and got the supplies needed to fix it. It would give him something to do. That was the only reason.

The bear ended up on his bed with the name of Dusty due to its state when he found it. 

He would carry Dusty around when he was in his brain numb state, he started getting dressed in pjs when he was brain numb too. Finding the soft material soothing. Comforting in the quiet loneliness. He ate whatever he wanted when he was brain numb too. Often comfort foods from childhood. 

It wasn’t until he snapped out of that brain fog and saw that he had doodled all over the inside of his plan book that he knew something was wrong. This wasn’t normal. 

He avoided going brain numb for a solid week before slipping again. This time he noticed that he not only felt, but looked younger. He was younger. What was going on? 

“Dee you screamed and I didn’t cause it. What’s going on?” Remus asked through the door. 

Janus was glad he locked the door. He did not want anyone to see him like this. Not until he figured out what it was….no maybe not even then either. 

“I’m fine.” Janus said in a hard tone causing Remus to shrug and leave.

Janus took a breath. Other than being confused he felt...good. Better than he had in over a week. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad thing? 

\---

Janus found out what it was called a few months later. Littlespace. Age regression. Healthy coping. He felt thrilled that what he was doing had a name. That there was information on it! That he wasn’t alone in doing this!

It was just a small thing, that knowledge that he wasn’t alone in some way. But it meant so much to him. It let him regress without worry that what he was doing was in some way harmful or wrong. It was coping. Healthy. Self care.

Janus cuddled Dusty sitting on his cartoon snake bedsheets and eating goldfish while coloring. He hummed along to some soft piano music he was playing and let himself be small. 

He was still alone, but he found some way to cope with it.


	249. Age what now. or what happens when Logan finds out.

Janus started spending more time around the others and with that a fear rose up. What if he dropped in front of them? He was use to being alone so much of the time that he could regress anytime he wanted. So the idea of not doing that anymore was...bad.

It was bad! And he didn’t want it to happen! And and...oh no. 

Janus froze as he realized he regressed over the stress of not being able to regress. Logan looked up at him. “Are you alright?”

Janus bolted from the room. Janus got to his room and forgot to lock the door before hiding under his blankets. 

This wasn’t supposed to happen! He started crying. 

\---

“Deceit?” Logan asked knocking before opening the door slightly, then all the way when Deceit didn’t answer. He stared at the Cartoon bedsheets, the toy chest at the end of the bed, the stuffed animals that surrounded what was clearly Deceit under the covers. It looked like a kid’s room. 

Logan sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled the covers back. He hid the shock of Deceit chewing on his sleeve and silently crying well. Then it clicked for him. “Do you want to talk little one?” He asked gently.

“No suppose know.” Deceit Muttered. 

Logan brushed Deceit’s hair out of his face. “I’m not going to judge you for this.” Logan opened his arms in case a hug would help. Physical comfort was highly useful in dealing with upset children in some cases. 

Deceit eyed him for a little bit before all but crawling into Logan’s lap. He curled up against him still chewing on his sleeve. Logan summoned a teether for him. Deceit muttered a thanks before biting it. 

“Now, is there a certain stressor that causes you to regress?” Logan asked.

Deceit tilted his head in confused. 

Logan blinked. He needed to simplify. “Why are you small?” 

“Lonely.” Deceit said holding on to Logan’s shirt as if he was terrified he would vanish if he let go. 

Logan tightened his grip on Deceit. “I’m sorry.” He knew how it felt to be lonely as well, even if he would never admit it. “I hope you don’t mind if I stick around to make sure you’re alright.” 

Deceit beamed at him. 

\----

“Nonnie! Nonnie! Look!” Janus said pointing to the tower he made. Logan who was watching the whole time smiled wider. 

“Good job baby.” Logan said hugging Janus causing the little to giggle and snuggle against him. Janus, it turned out, adored physical affection while in little space and would often just reach out to hold Logan’s hand while he did things with the other. Or simply demand hugs if he felt Logan wasn’t giving him enough. 

Logan was glad he found out that Janus regressed and that he let him be there to take care of him. It quickly became his favorite job. 

The best part? They weren’t nearly as lonely anymore.


	250. Not sick I swear!

Remus was sick and when he was sick he regressed. And when he was regressed and sick, well he did not want to be babied! When he wasn’t sick he liked it, but when he was sick he could not stand it. It made him feel weak. So the easiest solution in his kid brain was to just not tell anyone that he was little or sick. 

Of course he was very very bad at hiding it. So the others quickly figured it out and tried to help in a way that didn’t outright say that they knew. After all he was trying so hard to seem like he wasn’t sick. 

“We’re making soup for lunch what kind do you want?” Patton asked having to hold himself back from hugging Remus and telling him that he was going to be ok. They all knew that Remus didn’t like being babied when he was sick. Out of all of them, Patton had the hardest time holding up and not coddling the creative side. 

“Whatever's good.” Remus said too tired to choose. 

Patton’s hand twitched, starting to reach towards him before it snapped back to his side. He nodded, “ Oh. Ok.” He said. Remus must really feel bad. Hugs make that better. No. No no. Don’t let on you know. 

“Think you can sit in here and keep my company?” So i can keep an eye on you. Patton thought. 

Remus looked relieved to just sit. Something he hated when not sick. He sat down and rested his head in his arms on the table. Patton had to turn around and get to work so he wouldn’t try cuddling him. 

Give him space. He reminded himself as he got to work making chicken soup. He winced when he heard Remus’ raspy coughs behind him but he didn’t say anything. 

He got through making lunch and suggested that since there wasn’t much work to do it would be the perfect afternoon for a nap. Remus scowled and he was sure he was caught before he noticed that the scowl didn’t have the normal anger behind it and Remus was faking. He relaxed when Remus agreed while complaining. 

\---

Janus knew that Remus didn’t want help when sick, but that didn’t mean he didn’t need it. Remus had stumbled twice in the last ten minutes and he refused to sit down. 

“I’m cold.” Janus lied knowing that even sick Remus would still insist on warming him up by laying on him. He didn’t want to be crushed at the moment but when Remus fell asleep within seconds of laying on him he didn’t regret the decision, he just wished he had turned on the t,v first so that he had something to do.

\---

“What do you think?” Roman asked putting another shirt on Remus.

Remus who had been shivering had finally stopped, warming up. “It good.” He said, slipping into his little voice. He coughed to cover it up which turned into real hacking. 

Roman frowned. Before smiling again when Remus looked at him. “Of course it is! I made it! Cookie?” He offered a single, cough medicine dosed cookie to him. 

Remus ate it without a single comment on the slightly off flavor. He might not have even noticed. It was the only way to get him to take medicine when he was sick. Something he, Logan and Patton had figured out the hard way. 

“Nother one?” Remus asked. 

Wow he wasn’t even trying anymore to hide the fact he was little. Roman still didn’t comment on it. He was not going to be the one to handle the meltdown If remus knew they knew. 

Roman handed him the plate of non-dosed cookies which Remus quickly started eating, kicking his legs back and forth as he sat on the end of Roman’s bed. He hummed and Roman had to force himself to not mention it. DO NOT TALK ABOUT IT! 

Remus was sure that he was doing a fantastic job. 

\---

Remus woke up no longer sick but still regressed. He double and triple checked that he isn't sick anymore before running off and demanding to be cuddled and taken care of.


	251. Red

Roman knew something was wrong when his memory of parts of the day was fuzzy. He found his drawings from those times to have a childish flair to them. He wasn't complaining, just confused. In fact the drawings had given him quite a few ideas.

Then he started dressing up which wasn't weird. His outfits were more for comfort or fun than style which confused the others at first but they quickly got use to it. 

This he dropped into younger speech patterns something that Logan picked up on immediately what was going on. He pulled Roman aside and asked him how long this had been going on. To which Roman answered a few months.

"You're age regressing." Logan explained. 

Roman was excited to have a name for it but nervous when Logan mentioned that he would be willing to watch Roman while regressed. Roman liked this times as him time. Where he could be as silly as he wanted. 

"Thanks but...I think I'd rather do it on my own." He explained. Logan accepted this and told him the offer still stood if he changed his mind in the future.

Roman never did. He enjoyed age regression on his own and was perfectly happy to play by himself. He found he relaxed better alone than with people and he really didn't mind. 

Sure the others knew about it. He would even talk about it. But he always turned down their offers to watch him. He was happy without a caregiver. 

And that was perfectly alright.


	252. Grey

"Am baby." Remy declared before laying across Emile's lap. 

"Oh really?" Emile asked as he looked away from his book. 

Remy hummed and nodded. "How old are you baby?" 

Remy held up four fingers before changing it to three. Emile ran his fingers through Remy's hair. "I see. Do you want help to get changed into your pj's and then watch some ducktales?" 

"Yes peas." Remy said scrambling to get for of Emile's lap and stagger off to his room. Emile set his book down and followed. He got there in time to find Remy with his arms stuck trying to take his shirt off. Emile laughed silently before helping him out.

They managed to get Remy changed into his sleepwear. Pants with coffee cups and beans on them and a shirt that said 'don't talk to me before my morning coffee.'. 

Remy made grabby hands at Emile until he was picked up. He was carried to the t.v room and set on the couch. "Juice?" He asked.

"Ok baby bean." Emile said going to get him his sippy with some juice. 

He grabbed a bag of baby carrots for Remy to snack on as well knowing it was going to be the first healthy thing Remy had eaten that day. Remy didn't complain about the carrots like he would when he was bigger. 

Emile sat down with his book as Remy curled up against him as watched the t.v while snacking. Emile ran his fingers through Remy's hair as he read. Occasionally glancing at him to make sure he was ok. 

Remy dozed off curled up against Emile who put his book down and grabbed a blanket that had been discarded at the end of the couch and threw it over them. He hugged Remy to his chest as he got some sleep as well. 

The two napping peacefully with cartoons played quietly in the background.


	253. Marshmallow.bunny pink.

Emile was feeling small but he didn't want to say anything. Remy had planned out this amazing date for him and he felt bad regressing in the middle of it. So he just tried forcing himself to be bigger. Which worked.

Kinda.

He kept slipping in and out of his headspace as dinner progressed. He was barely able to follow Remy's words as he talked about work, and then his plans for Emile's birthday, and what he wanted to do over the summer if he got enough time off. 

Emile was nodding along and dropping everything Remy mentioned something that sounded fun. "Yeah!" Emile said a little louder than normal and he slapped a hand over his mouth before giving Remy a sheepish look. 

Remy narrowed his eyes. "Are you feeling ok?"

"Yup." Emile said a little higher pitched than normal. Remy paused before speaking again. Emile knew he had been caught when Remy stopped dropping in swears and kept slipping in pet names. 

"Ready to go home bunny?" He asked softly. 

Emile knew that Remy knew. He ruined it. He went and regressed and ruined it. Emile started crying softly causing Remy to panic.

"We can stay longer if you want sweetheart." He said quickly reaching over and grabbing Emile's hands.

Emile shook his head feeling miserable. "We go now." 

Remy pulled him into a hug as soon as they were out of the building. He got him in the car before asking, "Want to tell me what's wrong?"

"I ruin it." Emile muttered sniffing. "It nice and in-poor-tent and I small and..." He sobbed again.

"Sweetie no. You didn't ruin anything. I promise." Remy said pulling Emile into his lap. "I just wanted to spend time with you. That's all that matters."

"Big me." Emile muttered.

"Listen. There will be other dates. And you might regress again on one of those. I am never going to be upset about it." Remy promised kissing the top of Emile's head. "We just have a change of plans. So instead of going to the park and drinking wine, how about we go pick up some ice cream and watch a movie at home?" 

"Purr-miss not mad?" Emile asked.

"I promise." Remy said.

Emile hugged him tighter. "Ok.... I like ice cream." Emile said his tears stopping. Remy wiped off Emile's face and kissed his cheeks which caused him to giggle. 

"I love you bunny, big or small." Remy reminded him as he helped strap him in. 

Emile smiled for the first time since they left the building. "Wov you too cubby." 

They ended up watching chicken little and eating rocky road ice cream in their pajamas. Emile fell asleep on Remy's shoulder and he was carried to bed before Remy cleaned up and went to bed as well.

"Remy?" Emile asked half awake out of his regression.

"Yeah babe?" Remy asked. 

"Thank you." Emile said.

Remy smiled and kissed his boyfriend's forehead. "Anytime love."


	254. Dandelion yellow.

Janus felt embarrassed when the others found out he regressed. Roman jumped on him about it at first before Logan fully explained what it was. Calling him weird for acting like a kid. When Logan explained that he wasn’t just acting Roman laughed. 

“Wait, he turns into a kid again?” Roman laughed. 

Janus looked away trying not to cry. He would not cry over this! He did turn back into a kid. He even shapeshifted to the right size because it helped him feel better. He wanted to hug himself, he wanted to sink out, hide in his room and let this all just go away.

“Roman this is not something to laugh about.” Logan said, “It’s a coping method for a number of issues.” 

“Coping?” Roman asked. “What does he need to cope for?” 

“Now Kiddo Janus does more than try and get Thomas to lie.” Patton said.

“Name one thing.” Roman shot back.

“He puts up with you.” Virgil said.

“How dare you I am a delight in fact-”

Janus tuned them out, his head was spinning a bit and he was on the verge of regressing. He had to hold it together. 

“-Because it just as weird and gross as the rest of him!” Roman yelled.

Janus sobbed dropping. Everyone looked Janus shocked as he was no longer an immovable adult but instead a small, scared, and sad child. Roman immediately felt guilty. “Janus I…” 

Janus backed away from all of them before darting behind the couch. He curled up hugging his knees to his chest as he sobbed. He didn’t notice he had dropped his hat until it was gently being placed back on his head. He looked up at the others who had gathered around him. 

“I’m so sorry.” Roman said.

“I don’t think sorry covers it.” Virgil said sharply.

“Do you need a hug kiddo?” Patton asked. Janus threw himself in Patton’s arms sobbing. He hid his face in Patton’s chest as he cried. 

“Not a freak!” He said voice breaking.

“No you aren’t.” Logan said. 

“I didn’t...I didn’t think before I spoke and..I’m sorry.” Roman said. 

Janus didn’t look at him. He was too upset. He never felt bad about regressing before Roman made fun of him. He never felt bad about his name either before Roman made fun of that too.

“You mean.” Janus stated. 

Roman sputtered. “I’m not mean...I just..I don’t mean to be.” He looked away holding himself.

“You don’t know what it’s like!” Janus snapped angry at Roman for making him feel bad. To his surprise Roman teared up. 

Then he did something no one expected. He regressed too. 

Roman whimpered and looked away from everybody. “You too?” Janus asked.

“No! I don’t want to!” Roman yelled stomping his foot. “It’s weird and scary and and I hate it!” 

Virgil hugged him. “Hey. No. breathe for me ok?” 

Roman sobbed as Janus watched shocked. “Why?” 

“I’m stupid then i get stupider.” Roman explained wiping at his tears. “I small and sad and alone and it’s no fun.” 

Janus moved away from Patton and put his arms around Roman. “It’s ok.” 

Roman hugged Janus, “I sorry.” 

“It’s...not ok. But I forgive you.” Janus said.

Roman sobbed harder at that. He held onto Janus like a lifeline. “Sorry sorry sorry.” 

“Breathe.” Virgil reminded him. 

Roman slowly stopped crying. Janus pulled back to look at him. “It can be fun.” He promised. 

“It’s scary.” Roman said.

“It can be.” Janus admitted. “But you don’t have to be alone.” 

“Not you either.” Roman said. 

Janus smiled at him. He grabbed Roman’s hand and gave it a squeeze. Roman gave him a weak smile back.


	255. Responsibilities

Patton liked taking care of the others. He really did! It’s just...he never stopped. Even when he was regressed the others were too so since he was the oldest he was left taking care of them. Which was fine! After all that was his job! And he liked doing it! So it’s fine. 

Even if he did get tired...or wish he could relax and just be a kid without having to also watch the younger ones...or just take a nap for once. 

Someone tugged on his sleeve. It was Virgil who was a young toddler he couldn’t even wake so he crawled or was carried everywhere. Patton smiled, “Yeah there, what’s going on?” 

Virgil didn’t speak, he made grabby hands to be picked up. Patton picked him up and almost staggered. Oh boy he was more tired than he had thought. “Where you want to go Kiddo?” 

Virgil pointed to the stairs. Ah. He wanted to go to his room. Patton eyed the stairs. “Maybe we can stay down here?” He would be running up and down those stairs all afternoon if he had to watch Virgil up there and the rest of them down here. 

Virgil whimpered and pointed harder tears appearing in his eyes. Patton couldn’t say no to that. He took Virgil to his room and set him down. Virgil crawled over to his toy chest and started playing. Patton really really wanted to sit down and play with him. 

Maybe for a few minutes? 

“PAT! HELP!” He heard Roman called from downstairs. Patton sighed before leaving to go check on Roman. 

Roman was cornered by Janus and Remus both of whom were hitting him with pillows. Patton crossed his arms and didn’t even have to say anything for them to stop. They just looked at him guilty between wandering off. Roman smiled at him. “Thanks pat.” 

“Of course.” Patton yawned. 

Roman frowned, “When was the last time you sat down?” Roman asked.

Patton brushed the question off. He needed to go make dinner, regressed or not. “I’m fine. Just a little bit longer.” He stumbled a little on his way into the kitchen. 

He made microwave dinners. Not feeling up to cooking anything more complicated than that. No one minded, or noticed that Patton forgot to feed himself. Patton was on the verge of tears from just how tired he was. 

By the time bedtime rolled around he he got everyone tucked in he was ready to collapse. He dropped into bed and couldn’t stop himself from bawling. He was just so tired and stressed and and….

He regressed younger. 

\---

Roman frowned as he peeked into the empty kitchen. He turned back towards Logan who was sitting on the couch. “Hey have you seen Patton?” 

“Not since yesterday.” Logan said looking up from his book. “Perhaps he is still sleeping. Yesterday must have been tiring for him.” 

“What do you mean?” Roman asked.

“Well he was regressed and taking care of most of us the whole time.” Logan said slightly guilty now that he was thinking about it. 

Roman’s frown deepened. “I’ll go check on him.” 

He knocked on Patton’s door a few times before going in. “Pat?” 

Patton was curled up in bed, his eyes red and puffy. Roman sat down next to him. “Hey what’s wrong?” 

“Don’t wanna do stuff.” Patton muttered clearly still regressed.

“Oh.” Roman said and found he didn’t know what to do. What would Patton do right now if one of them was small and upset? Roman pulled Patton into a hug. “Hey. It’s ok. You can take the day off if you need to.” 

Patton looked at him shocked and hopeful. “Reawy?” 

Roman felt extremely guilty at that. When was the last time Patton had gotten a break? Or been allowed to regress without the rest of them regressing as well? 

When was the last time they took care of him? 

Roman looked at Patton, “Really.” He said firmly. “Today is your day. We’ll do whatever you want and you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. Ok?” 

Patton beamed and hugged Roman. “Fanks so much!” 

Roman hugged Patton back. If he was getting this excited about having a day off they really needed to take better care of him. 

And they were going to. From here on out. Roman would make sure of it.


	256. Ducklings

Remus and Roman giggled as they trailed behind Logan who rolled his eyes as they followed him. He knew he was stuck with them for the rest of the day or until they weren’t regressed anymore. He walked slowly to give them plenty of time to keep up as they would get upset if they fell behind. 

Logan also narrated what he was doing. He didn’t know why he did that, they just seemed to find it entertaining. “So now I’m going to go read a book for the next half hour.”

“Story time!” Remus said happily. 

It was a book on physics but they sat there listening to him read anyway. 

“Now it’s time for lunch. I’m thinking sandwiches.” Logan said, pulling out the ingredients he needed. 

“Star shaped?” Roman suggested. 

They had star shaped sandwiches.

“Now I have work to do….Do you want to play quietly or nap?” He asked.

“Nap.” Roman said.

“Play.” Remus said at the same time.

“Very well. Roman you can sleep in my bed, Remus you know where the toy box is.” Logan said fully well knowing that he was going to tuck Roman in and that he was going to end up playing with Remus after a half hour of working.

By dinner time Remus wasn’t regressed anymore. Roman still was and he clung to Logan’s arm as he yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Logan couldn’t help but feel happy about the day he just had with the twins. 

\----

Patton giggled along with the twins as they followed him through the house as he did his chores. They played with the clean laundry and helped him cook by adding pre measured ingredients or stirring. 

“Who wants to play hide and seek?” Patton asked as he finished working. 

“I’m on Pat’s team!” They both yelled at the same time. 

“We’ll take turns.” Patton said before they could start fighting. 

One of them would hide and the other would look with Patton. They never hid well so it was easy to find them. By the time lunch rolled around, both of them were getting tired.

They ate mac and cheese before curling up on either side of Patton on the couch and watching t.v. Or rather Patton watched t.v while they slept. 

Roman woke up no longer regressed and thanked Patton for hanging out with them before he went to his room. Remus slept longer and woke up small. 

“Roman?” He asked looking around.

“He went to his room.” Patton explained.

“Time out?” Remus asked.

Patton laughed, “No. He’s not in time out. He’s just not little anymore.” 

Remus blinked. “Oh..can I help make supper?” 

Patton ruffled his hair. “Sure thing Kiddo.” 

Remus beamed and Patton was glad that he got to spend time with them.


	257. Grey starlight

Grey starlight

Logan and Virgil were very excited for night to fall already. Remy had promised to take them out to look at the stars and they had been talking about it constantly since.

"Uh oh." Virgil said looking out the window at the evening sky.

"What's wrong buddy?" Remy asked walking over. He peeked out the windows and saw the storm clouds slowly covering the sky. 

"It's gonna rain!" Logan pouted. 

"Sorry guys. I guess we'll have to postpone." Remy said making Virgil and Logan deflate. "But that doesn't mean we can't still see some stars." 

Remy walked over to the supplies closet with a curious pair of littles behind him. He dug through the closet until he found a small box. "Ah ha! Here we are!" 

He turned around. "Mmm going to need a ladder." Virgil and Logan glanced at each other confused.

Remy smiled at them. "Why don't you two go get in your pj's and by then it'll all be set up."

"What?" Logan asked frustratingly curious. 

Remy ruffled his hair. "You'll see. Run along." 

Virgil and Logan reluctantly left. Remy waited to make sure they were gone before getting to work. 

Janus and Remus found him on a ladder covering the ceiling in glow and the dark stars and quickly offered to help. By the time they were done the ceiling was covered. 

Remy asked if they wanted to stick around to see the littles reactions but they declined. They had their own plans for the evening. 

"Dancing in the rain?" Remy asked slowly.

Janus sighed heavily as Remus laughed dragging Janus out of the room. Remy could have sworn he saw Janus smile as they left.

\---

Virgil and Logan came downstairs slowly, a bit disappointed that Remy was just sitting on the couch with no surprise in sight. Were they going to watch a show about stars? That would be...kinda nice…a little bit.

"Logan could you flip the light off?" Remy asked. 

Virgil and Logan shared another confused look before flipping the lights off and gasping. The ceiling was covered in glow in the dark stars and planets.

"I figured we could break out the glow stars, since I did promise you that we could be looking at stars tonight." Remy said as Virgil and Logan excitedly bounced up and down pointing at them.

"Thank you!" Virgil said giving Remy a hug, soon joined by Logan. Remy pulled them up on to the couch with him. 

They all cuddled together looking at the stars. Maybe not quite like they planned but a very fun night nevertheless.


	258. Honeybee dress up

If there was one thing that little Janus liked that adult Janus hated was being called cute. When Janus was little he would dress up just to get called cute, or pretty, or adorable. He’d put on skirts and cute animal hoodies with ears and tails and bounce around giggling when someone complimented him. 

He also had a habit of not noticing when the others were busy or not when he was little. It got to the point where the others had to verbally tell him that they were busy. Of course there were times they forgot to tell him. 

So when he dressed up and no one noticed he was disappointed. So he changed outfits. 

Nothing. 

He tried three different times and...nothing. He could barely get anyone to look at him. Much less give him a compliment. He gave up and just sat in his room. He looked in the mirror. What changed? Was he not cute anymore? 

Was he ever cute or had they just been playing along? He thought as a bad feeling filled his stomach. He blinked and his eyes were suddenly very watery. He ran his fingers over the scales on his face. He scowled at them in the mirror. Of course they were just playing along. How could he ever be cute?

He dressed up in a onesie with a hoodie and pair of gloves. Covering as much of himself up as he could. He threw a blanket over the mirror for good measure. He hid in his room for a few hours before he got hungry and went looking for a snack. 

He was in the middle of opening a packet of fruit snacks when Remus walked in. “Hi honeybee!” He said causing Janus to turn to look at him. Remus was beaming at him. “Someone’s looking cute.” 

Janus burst out in tears. He knew they were lying. Remus was alarmed by Janus’ sudden and unexpected reaction to his words. Janus was dressed in a cat onesie with the ears up, he normally just meowed and giggled when he called him cute while wearing that.

“Honeybee what’s wrong?” Remus asked quickly crossing the room.

Janus sniffed, “Not cute. Ugly.” He sobbed.

Remus inhaled sharply. “Who said that?” He asked ready to murder someone. He pulled Janus into a hug.

“No one thinks I cute.” Janus insisted. 

“I do.” Remus said baffled. 

“Lying! I gross an ugly an-” 

“Janus.” Remus said stopping Janus from insulting himself further. Remus put a hand on Janus’ cheek. “You are not gross, that’s me.”He should have gotten a giggle at that and didn’t. “You are not ugly or any of the bad things going through that pretty head of yours.” 

“Ignoring me.” Janus muttered.

Remus frowned confused again before he remembered that Janus had come into his room a few times earlier but he had been so busy and focused that he didn’t really..notice..him. “I’m so sorry. I was busy honeybee.” 

“Just busy? Not...not hating me?” Janus asked insecure. 

“I could never hate you.” Remus promised before kissing Janus’ forehead, then both cheeks. “You are the cutest person I’ve ever met.” 

Janus finally giggled. He hugged Remus tightly. “Thanks chu.” 

Remus held him. “Of course honeybee.” He was going to have to talk to grown up Janus about this. It was clear that he had some insecurities that were bleeding through into his regression. 

“Do you want to show me what you were wearing earlier?” Remus asked.

Janus beamed, “yeah!” He grabbed Remus’ hand and dragged him to his room. On the way Remus picked up the others, giving them an abridged version of what just happened. In the end Janus got to show everyone his outfits and was very happy with their reactions. 

He uncovered the mirror that evening when he was no longer regressed. He didn’t hate his reflection as much as he normally did. If anything he thought that maybe, he looked a little bit cute.


	259. Amethyst

"Mac an cheese!" Virgil yelled.

Logan sighed. "No Virgil. You had that for lunch." 

"Mac! An! Cheese!" He yelled slapping his hands on the table.

"Does someone need a time out?" Logan asked.

Virgil blew a raspberry at him before crossing his arms. He stared off at the wall angry. Logan rolled his as eyes as he set about making the ham sandwich for the little. He even cut it into a star shape.

Virgil refused to eat it. "Not mac an cheese." He muttered.

"You can't eat only mac an cheese." Logan said firmly pushing the plate closer towards Virgil. "Look. It's star shaped!" 

Virgil's glare weavered before he was scowling at the wall again. Logan sighed. "If I got you chocolate milk would you eat it?"

Virgil shot up in his seat, "Choco milk?"

"If you eat the sandwich." Logan said.

Virgil nodded eagerly and took a bite before realizing he was pretty hungry and eating faster. So much so Logan had to tell him to slow down. 

"Do you want it in a sippy cup?" Logan asked.

"No! I'm big!" Virgil said meaning he very much not big and probably needed the sippy cup. Logan put it in a sippy cup but left the lid off. He could put it on if needed.

Virgil only spilled a third of the milk on his shirt while drinking so Logan concerned that a win. 

"Bath time." Logan said picking him up.

"With bubbles?" Virgil asked shyly.

"With bubbles." Logan agreed causing Virgil to cheer.

"Mac an cheese tomorrow." Virgil said firmly. 

Logan sighed. He really hoped not. 

\----

Virgil sat on top of the fridge eating mac an cheese. No longer regressed so technically Logan couldn't do anything about it. After all Virgil had gotten up before everyone else and made himself the food. 

"Really?' Logan asked.

Virgil stuck his tongue out Logan before taking another bite. He could live off mac an cheese if he wanted too.

Even if he did feel a little sick from eating so much.


	260. Shipphire

Human AU

Patton tugged Remus along through the aquarium. "Look it! Seahorses!" 

"That's right." Remus said as Patton pointed with his free hand, the other tugging Remus' arm so they could get closer to the seahorses. 

"Can I get seahorse plushie?" Patton asked turning to beam at his caregiver. Remus beamed back.

"I don't see why not. When you're done looking at them we can go to the gift shop and see if they have any."

"Can I get a blue one?" Patton asked a few hours later as they entered the gift shop.

Remus looked around. "Looks like they're out of blue ones bud." 

Patton nodded slowly. "Oh."

"How about a green or purple one?" Remus asked holding up one of each kind.

Patton thought about it before shaking his head. "Come back later?" He asked shyly.

"We can check next time we're here." Remus promised. Patton's excitement was back and he started talking about how he was going to take care of the seahorse when he got it.

"-an I'll give him hugs every day!" Patton said.

Remus nodded along as he bought them dipping dots. "That's good."

"Nonnon you're not listening." Patton said.

Remus tended to get caught up in his own thoughts. "Sorry bug. I got distracted."

"It's ok." Patton said in a subdued tone. Remus looked at him as he poked at his treat.

"How old you feeling?" Remus asked.

Patton shrugged. "Older." He said in his adult tone.

"Are you ok?" Remus asked concerned.

Patton took a breath. "Do I annoy you? When I'm little?" He asked worried.

Remus was surprised by the question and Patton seemed to take his silence for confirmation. He sniffed and rubbed at his eyes under his glasses.

"Oh no! Nonono! Never! I promise!" Remus said feeling guilty.

"I'm sorry." Patton said.

"You don't have anything to be sorry about. You are not annoying. I just get distracted sometimes." Remus said.

"Yeah but I drag you everywhere and I never stop talking and I always want stuff." Patton said feeling guilting as he looked at the frozen treat that Remus had brought for him. That Remus had paid for them to get into the aquarium… that he was going to make Remus buy a stupid stuffed animal for him.

"Bug look at me." Remus said firmly. Patton looked at him. "I like taking care of you. I love it when you ramble on about things, it's the cutest thing in the world to me and I love buying you stuff that makes your face light up."

"Yeah but-" patton started. Remus cut him off.

"If I didn't want to be here would I be here doing this? Do you think would hold back telling you that you were annoying or too much?" Remus said. "Since when do I not just blurt out what I'm thinking?"

Patton's lips twitched at that. "Thank you. I'm just being silly."

"No. You're being Patton." Remus said causing Patton to laugh.

They finished eating their dessert and left. Patton regressed again on the way home. Remus relaxed as Patton rambled on just like normal.

Everything was going to be fine.


	261. Powder blue or it turns to dust.

Virgil watched as Logan read the plague in front of the t-rex skeleton. He mouthed the words to himself as he focused on reading it. Being regressed he had a bit of trouble reading but Virgil knew not to step in and help until Logan asked.

Logan tugged on his shelve and pointed at a word. Virgil read it off for him, Logan smiled his thanks before reading more. It was only two paragraphs but they had already been here for twenty minutes as Logan worked on understanding what it meant.

Virgil didn't rush him but he was getting bored and so he pulled out his phone for just a minute.

There was a tap on his shoulder. He looked up to see, one, Logan was gone, and two there was a mother and her kids trying to get display. He apologized quickly before looking for Logan.

He was in full panic mode by the time he found Logan around the corner reading a sign. "Hey you know you're not suppose to run off." 

Logan looked at him sheepish. "Sowwy."

Before Virgil could reassure him it was fine someone laughed. "Sowwy? What are you two?" The man laughed again.

Logan teared up. "What you're gonna cry now? Seriously? What is wrong with you? Are you-" 

"Apologize now!" Virgil snapped cutting the man off before he could say anything else.

The man looked him up and down then smirked. "No." He walked off before Virgil could do anything other than glare. He wanted to chase him down and punch him but he couldn't just leave Logan.

Logan was holding onto Virgil's sleeve. "I like go home now peas." He said sniffing.

Virgil put an arm around Logan's shoulder and lead him from the building. He got him settled in the car and started driving.

"You didn't do anything wrong that...jerk was in the wrong." Virgil told him.

Logan nodded. "I knows...know." Logan was trying to snap out of his regression but he couldn't. He was too upset. Tears kept falling even while he tried to stop crying.

"Do you want to go home or do you want to get something to eat first?" Virgil asked.

Logan wanted to go home but… he hears Virgil's stomach growl. "Eat please?" He asked focusing on speaking correctly.

"Ok. What do you want to eat?" Virgil asked.

"...pizza." Logan said the first thing that came to mind.

They pulled into a small pizza place. They ate in silence and left. Logan had stopped crying and was just feeling tired by the time they got home.

"Do you-"

"I'm going to nap." Logan said dryly before going to his room.

Virgil watched unsure what to do. Maybe he would feel better after his nap.

\---

Logan didn't like going out regressed after that. So much so he actively avoided places that caused his regression. 

He wouldn't go back to the museum. Virgil didn't know what to do. One of Logan's favorite places big or small was ruined for him and Virgil couldn't fix it.

I'd he had been paying attention this would have never happened! He knew it wasn't fair to blame himself. That asshole would have been mean regardless of what Virgil did. But maybe if Virgil had them stay. If he didn't make a big deal out of what that man said and just acted like they should just ignore him instead of leaving.

Running away from the problem.

Virgil sighed and put his head in his hands. Unaware that Logan was watching feeling guilty for stressing his friend out so much. 

Maybe it would be better if he just stopped regressing completely.

\----

Logan managed to go a week the first time he tried to not regress. Then three weeks. Then a month. By the time it had been a month and a half Virgil was full on panicking.

"I'm sorry." He said out of the blue one morning as Logan poured himself coffee. 

Logan paused before turning to face him. "For what? Did you mess up the coffee? It's fine if you did just-"

"I ruined it. I ruined your regression. I took away your ability to cope. I am so sorry." Virgil said.

Logan blinked. "What? No. Vee. It isn't your fault. It's just….I've been thinking about it and… I think it's time for me to move on." 

"You don't move on from coping." Virgil shot at him.

Logan agreed with that before continuing. "But I can change my methods. I've been relaxing in other ways and I don't regress involuntary nearly as much as I did on purpose." 

He put a hand on Virgil's shoulder. "I should have talked to you about this sooner."

"One bad event can't make you give up on this!" Virgil said.

"...I was thinking about it before that." Logan admitted.

Virgil stared at him. "Oh."

"I don't need you to be my caregiver anymore." 

Virgil felt like he had been struck. Logan could see how much that hurt him and scrambled to fix it. "What I mean is since I'm not regressing...much… I don't need a caregiver at all." 

"...so it's not because I fucked up?" Virgil asked.

"Vee you didn't...fuck up… you were fine." Logan said. "I've been out growing ,as it were, Regression for a while." 

"That can happen?" Virgil asked.

"Regression is different for everyone." Was Logan's answer.

Virgil couldn't help but feel sad over it. An ending that while was neither of their faults, sure felt like it was. 

"We're still friends right?" 

"Of course. That's not going to change." 

"Ok." 

Maybe things would be ok.


	262. Lilac purple park

Lilac purple.

For this Virgil's pronouns are ey/em.

Virgil was on the swings. Ey's feet pushing em forward and back, forwards and back as Janus read a book nearby. Janus looked up at em and smiled as the little was giggling up a storm.

"Look! High!" Virgil yelled as ey swung up.

"Oh wow. Be careful!" Janus called out slightly worried that ey would fall off. 

Virgil slowed down. Swinging softer again. Ey didn't want to but ey didn't like concerning Janus. 

Ey hopped off the swing and ran off to his caregiver. "Can we do to the slides now?" Ey asked.

Janus nodded and grabbed ey's hand. Virgil led him over to the slides. Ey climbed up the metal ladder and slid down a few times before yawning. 

"Someone's sleeping." Janus commented. "All tuckered out from playing huh?"

Virgil whined. "Noooo. I's fine." 

"Veebaby you need sleep." Janus said pulling em into his arms. 

Virgil huffed before snuggling into Janus' side as they walked off towards the car.

"I get snack first?" Virgil asked as ey was buckled in.

"You can have some goldfish and juice if you want but I don't want you eating too much before you go to sleep." Janus said knowing that Virgil would get nightmares if ey aye too much before sleeping.

"Mkay." Virgil asked ems eyes drifting shut for the short ride home. Ey woke up to Janus carrying em into the house. Ey woke up just enough to eat a handful of goldfish and drink a little juice before ey was tucked into bed.

"Sleep well veebaby." Janus said giving em a kiss on the forehead.

"Mmnighty." Virgil muttered rolled over and drifting back to sleep. Janus chuckled and left em to dream.


	263. cherry

Roman was so excited he didn't stop bouncing as Thomas walked them to the mall, they were going to a disney store and getting him whatever he wanted as a rewarded for being so good lately. 

"I wanna be PJs and coloring books and another blanket!" Roman said skipping almost as he tugged Thomas into the store.

Thomas laughed, "Ok. Ok. Let's see what they have." 

Roman ended up with frozen pj's and a beauty and the beast coloring book. As he started looking through the blankets he realized he had lost sight of Thomas. With a hint of guilt he remembered that he didn't tell him where he was going while Thomas was still looking through the coloring books and art supplies.

Of course he was going to stay right there and wait for Thomas to find him. The store wasn't that big and it was the next item on the list so it shouldn't take him too long. Besides they were playing disney music so he had something to listen to.

He waited through four songs before he started to get worried. Thomas hadn't shown up yet. Did he not notice Roman was gone? 

Did he not care? 

That thought sent a lump into Roman's throat that he couldn't get rid of. What if Thomas left without him? What if he was being punished for running off and had to find his way home by himself? 

His last caregiver did that alot. Left Roman at places if he felt he hadn't been good enough and Roman had to find his own way home. One day that caregiver left and never came back. Roman waited for hours before he snapped out if his regression. It had taken him years to warm enough to Thomas, to trust him enough that he would go places with him.

Thomas had never left him before but he hadn't forgotten and wandered off before either.

Panicked Roman left his spot and went back to the art section only to find it empty. He wasn't there.

Roman started to tear up. Thomas had left him. He ruined the trip and now he had to find his own way home. 

He felt his phone ring. He pulled it out and saw that it was Thomas calling. He started crying harder. He didn't want to get yelled at. He answered and held his breath as he waited for Thomas to start yelling.

"Where are you buddy?" Thomas asked gently. Roman sobbed."hey no it's ok. You're ok. I'll find you. Just tell me where you are."

"Art." Was all he could get out. Thomas assured him he could be there soon. Roman started shaking, he felt sick. 

"There you are. You wandered off bud." Thomas said trying to calm Roman down by speaking softly. 

"I in trouble?" He asked terrified of the answer. Terrified of the yes and being told to figure out how to get home on his own. Which was even worse than last time because he lived with Thomas. 

"No. You are not in any trouble." Thomas said as he hugged him. "I just wanna know where you ran off to. Did you need the restroom?"

Roman shook his head. "Blankets."

"Oh. You just went for the next thing huh? That's ok. You want to head over there now?" Thomas asked.

Roman sobbed. "Sowwy."

"Shhh… it's ok." Thomas said. Roman started to relax. Thomas was not going to leave him. He had been looking for him and he wasn't in trouble.

Everything was fine.

"Hey. Deep breaths buddy." Thomas said gently. He managed to get Roman breathing normally again before taking him over to the blankets not letting go of his hand once.

Roman clung to him the whole time they picked out a lilo and stitch blanket and then went to checkout.

Roman was still puffy eyed by the time they got to the car. "Sorry I lost you buddy."

"My fault." Roman muttered as he hugged his new stuff to his chest. 

"It's ok. You had your phone and I'm sure next time you'll use it first before you panic." Thomas said.

Roman nodded. When he got home they washed his PJs and blanket and he got to wear them that evening, snuggled up on the couch watching TV. Thomas sitting with him the whole time.

Thomas wasn't going to leave him or yell. He wasn't even angry. He didn't take the stuff away from Roman when they got back or even threaten too. He was nothing but gentle and nice. 

Everything was fine. 

Roman smiled. Maybe this time things would be ok.


	264. Beacon blue

If Logan wasn’t working he wasn’t useful, if he wasn’t useful then he didn’t have a purpose. He had to keep working.

So maybe the others kept telling him that they needed time and he would have to do whatever it was they didn’t do because they wanted to do useless things. 

That was fine. They could do that. But he couldn't. 

He had to keep working. 

Janus stopped him as he was on the brink of collapse as he carried a large stack of notes and ideas that Roman couldn’t be bothered to sort through back to his room to go over. He wasn’t going to be sleeping...again.

“You need a break.” Janus said.

“I don’t.” Logan said simply side stepping to move past him only for him to stumble, dropping the papers. Janus caught him before he smashed his face into the wall. 

“Care to say that again?” Janus asked sternly. 

Logan dropped. He teared up and let Janus pull him into a hug the notes forgotten until Remus peeked his head around the corner. Janus and Remus had a silent conversion, at the end of which Remus gathered up the papers to go take care of so Logan could focus on being little and relaxing. 

Janus gently led Logan to his room and got him into his pjs. Then he tucked him into bed and pulled out a story book. Logan pouted until Janus sat in bed with him, letting the little curl up against him as he read him to sleep. 

\---

Logan was still regressed in the morning which wasn’t strange for how long he had been pushing himself. 

“Cuddle?” Logan asked, chewing on the earpiece of his glasses. Janus removed the glasses from his mouth and put them back on his face before Picking Logan up. 

“Later, right now is breakfast time.” Janus said carrying him out of the room. 

“Oh is it little time?” Patton asked. 

“Yes.” Janus said sharply. 

Patton blinked in surprise at the hostile tone. “What?” 

Janus just shook his head. No matter how many times he told them to stop Logan from overworking himself they never did. At least he was always there to pick up the pieces.  
He got Logan cereal. He was in the middle of eating it when Remus came in. “Aww look at the cutie.” 

Logan blushed. “No.” He muttered.

“I think you are.” Remus said before looking at Janus. “Am I lying?” 

“Nope. No lies here. Just a sweetie.” Janus said ruffling Logan’s hair causing him to giggle.

Logan huffed, “You says so.” 

Remus picked him up, “I do!” He cuddled him to his chest. “What fun things are we going to do today?” 

Logan looked at Janus, “Imagan? Peas?” 

Janus sighed. It would be a day of stopping Remus from going overboard...But Logan had been working far too hard for him to say no. “Alright. We can go to the imagination.” 

Logan’s grin of delight almost made it worth it. 

Almost.

By the time that they had gone on two different adventures and gone swimming Logan was exhausted. He fell asleep on Remus’ back as he gave him a piggyback ride to his room. 

Janus picked Logan off of him and got him into bed. Logan woke up barely and made grabby hands for them. “Uddles.” 

Remus all but jumped into bed to cuddle him, Janus sighed and climbed in as well. One on either side of the little who drifted back to sleep comfortably cuddled on both sides.

“He’s so cute.” Remus commented. “Makes me want to steal his face and keep it like that forever.” 

“Well you won’t.” Janus said firmly.

“Of course not! I just said it made me want too.” Remus said as if he hadn’t really considered it. At least a little. 

Janus rolled his eyes. “Just go to sleep. We might have to watch him tomorrow too.” 

“Like you don’t love watching him.” Remus shot at him.

Janus’ fond smile at Logan was answer enough. Remus held onto Logan as he fell asleep. Janus watched them for a few more minutes before going to sleep as well.


	265. Scarlett

Roman knew that no one liked him when he was little. He was louder than normal, more hyper. He ran around, he couldn’t sit still, he was constantly asking for attention and affection. So having Patton tell him that maybe he shouldn’t regress around others wasn’t that big of a surprise. 

“It’s a bit much don’t you think?” Patton asked. “Besides it’s a bit annoying for Logan and Virgil so I think it’s better if you just do it when you’re alone. Ok kiddo? Thanks!” 

He really shouldn’t bother anyone with his regression. 

“Sow...sorry.” roman said clearing his throat a couple times after he had giggled. Janus looked at him confused.

“For what?” Janus asked. 

“I...shouldn’t have...I mean. I’m not little so you don’t have to worry.” That was only half true. He was half way regressed but was holding on to make sure he didn’t annoy Janus anymore than he annoyed him already.

“Little? You age regress?” Janus asked, curious.

“yeah..I thought you knew.”Roman said before shaking his head. “Like I said, I’m not going to be little around you so don’t have to worry.”

Janus frowned at the wording. If Roman just didn’t want to be little around him then he would understand but he seemed to think being little would upset him in some way.

“You can be little if you want. I don’t mind.” Janus said gently. 

Roman seemed to take this as him lying. His face tightening. “I know. I’m a bother when I’m little. I won’t do it. I promise.” He said as he slipped younger.

“Who told you that?” Janus asked.

“Paton.” Roman said holding his hands together so he wouldn’t start chewing on his nails. 

Janus pulled Roman into his lap, “It’s ok baby. You can be small.” 

Roman dropped hard. He curled up against Janus and sobbed. “Sowwy. Sowwy. Sowwy.” 

“No. You’re not doing anything wrong.” Janus said gently. He was going to have to talk to Patton. 

“Loud. an anoyen and bad...bad bad bad.” Roman muttered.

Janus’ frown deepen. Ok, he would might have to yell at patton. “It’s ok. I’m here now. You’re safe.”

“Safe?” 

“Safe.” Janus repeated rocking Roman a little. It didn’t take long for Janus to get Roman distracted with a box of stim toys. 

He watched Roman play, the little slowly getting more comfortable and louder. More playful and hyper. He was adorable and Patton wasn’t going to have a very pissed off snake to deal with later. 

But for now, Roman had someone to play with who really didn’t mind him being little.


	266. Call it normal part three.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ummm so this got lost in my drafts and notes. OOF. It's been awhile.   
>  The first two parts start at chapter 190 if anyone wants to go read them before this. ;-;

Thomas summoned Roman and of course Janus, Remus and Virgil went with him. Thomas stood there with Patton and Logan looking confused. 

“I heard there’s a problem?” Thomas didn’t quite understand why this ‘regressing’ thing was bad since he seemed to be feeling better lately. He had been making some of his best work recently and didn’t get creative blocks nearly as much as before.

“There is a problem.” Janus said, “Patton and Logan have been abusive to Roman.”

Patton and Logan immediately protested this. Thomas frowned, “That doesn’t sound...Roman?” 

Roman looked down. It took him a long time to be able to call what happened what it was. Not letting him eat, physically and verbally hurting him. All in the name of ‘helping’. “It’s true.” 

“He’s lying!” Patton hissed.

“He’s not!” Virgil snapped. 

Thomas held up his hands. Roman took a breath and explained what was happening from his point of view. Thomas had to quiet Logan and Patton a few times so that Roman could talk. Patton stepped towards Roman once before Remus pulled out a throwing knife and held it up in warning. 

By the time Roman had finished Thomas was pissed and more than a little sick feeling. Patton and Logan gave up trying to talk to Thomas and left. Thomas had to sit down. “Roman I’m so sorry I had no idea that…” 

Roman was hugged himself and Janus put an arm around his shoulders. “What matters now is moving forward.” 

“I promise you won’t have to see them again.” Thomas said. Roman smiled weakly at that. 

“So, can someone explain this regressing thing to me? I still don’t know what it is other than Logan’s brief ‘Remus does it and thus bad’ speech.” thomas said.

“Of course he would say that.” Remus said rolling his eyes. 

“At its core it’s a coping method.” Janus started. After a half hour Thomas got the gist of it. Enough that when Roman dropped from the stress he knew what was going on without having to be told.

“Do you want to go back?” Janus asked gently. 

“You can stay if you want. I don’t mind.” Thomas said.

“Promis?” Roman asked. 

“Pinky promise.” Thomas said sticking his pinky out. Roman shook it with his own giggling. 

Virgil left to get Roman and Remus’ stuff knowing that Remus would regress too soon. He ran too Patton on the way. 

“You’ve ruined everything.” Patton said. 

“No. No that was you.” Virgil said, barely resisting the urge to punch patton. He didn’t have time to get in a fight. Besides, they had time for that later if Patton or Logan tried anytime. “For your own health, stay away from us.” 

Patton huffed and stormed off. When Virgil got back Janus tilted his head in confusion, Virgil shook his head. He would tell him later. He turned his attention to The twins and Thomas all of whom were sitting on the floor Roman and Remus both regressed and excitedly telling Thomas about a story they were making together. Thomas was nodding along agreeing that it was a good story and even pulling out his phone to make notes. 

Janus and Virgil smiled. 

Things would be ok.


	267. You don't like me right? part three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part one and two start at 167

Remus was trying to get Roman to play with him, both little. “Comon! Adventure!” Remus said tugging on Roman’s sleeve. Roman whimpered and Patton quickly move in. 

“Remus remember what I told you? Roman likes gentle things. Adventures are rough.” Patton said softly as he removed Remus’ grip from Roman.

Roman looked at him in thanks. Remus huffed. “Fiiiiine! But it boring!” He snapped.

Roman teared up and hugged his stuffed dog that Janus gave him to his chest. Remus’ eyes widened at Roman’s reaction. “Sorry! Didn’t mean hurt you!” He yelled causing Roman to flinch but nod. Remus hugged Roman in apology. Roman accepted the hug happily. 

Patton sighed in relief. It was hard for any of the others to play with Roman when little because he was so...soft? Quiet? Gentle might be the right word. Anyway, it was the opposite of how they all acted. Very loud and hyper. 

Of course part of that was due to fear of the others being angry at him. Something that Still made Patton feel guilty. 

Janus and Logan walked into the living room. Logan, while never apologizing, accepted that Roman regressed and was polite to him again. The only one still pissed off was Virgil who felt betrayed by how everyone seemed to all fawn over Roman now. 

Logan waved to Roman who beamed and waved back. Then he saw Janus, “mama! Lookit!” He held out the stuffed dog. He had put a black and red shirt on the dog. 

“Oh? Is someone all dressed up?” Janus asked sitting down next to Roman on the couch. 

Roman nodded. “Yeh.” He petted the dog’s head and hummed softly. 

Remus huffed and rolled his eyes as saw that Roman was clearly not going to play with him. He ran off to find Virgil. Maybe he would play with him. 

“Do you have a name for him yet?” Logan asked, trying to get Roman more comfortable with him.

Roman shyly looked up. “Doggo.” 

“How….fitting.” Logan said. Roman nodded and kept petting the dogs head. “You’re good at naming things.” 

“You’re the bad guy!” He whined and dropped Doggo. He couldn’t stop remembering how Virgil yelled at him. 

“I’m..sorry.” Logan said as Janus moved to hug Roman. 

“It’s ok baby. Can you tell me what’s wrong?” Janus asked.

“Bad.” Roman whispered.

“You aren’t bad. I promise.” Janus said for what seemed like the millionth time. The damage Virgil did never seemed to leave. Roman seemed to think about it alot when he was little. 

“Hey what’s for lunch today?” Patton said suddenly. “I forgot what we had planned. Do you remember?” He asked Roman trying for a distraction. 

Roman frowned thinking. “Pizza?” 

“Oooh! Yeah! Do you think you can help me make it?” Patton asked.

Roman grinned at that. “Yeh.” He agreed quietly. 

Patton grabbed his hand and Janus took the other one and they set off for the kitchen. 

Logan watched them go before realizing that Remus wasn’t in the room anymore. He frowned. 

Logan found Remus and Virgil regressed and playing pirates together. Maybe if Virgil told Roman that he wasn’t a bad guy then Roman would believe it. Of course to get him to do that would mean he needs to get Roman and Virgil to talk to each other. And since they won’t do that when they’re big….

\---

Roman followed Logan from the kitchen while Janus and Patton were busy cooking. He had been sitting at the table drawing with Doggo when Logan showed up. He was confused by Logan wanting him to go with him but he didn’t say anything as he held Logan’s hand was was led to Virgil’s room. 

He started to panic as they walked in and he realized where they were. He teared up as he saw Virgil who looked at him. Virgil didn’t look mad for the first time in a long time.

“Hey! What’s this?” He asked jumping off the bed and running over to Roman who flinched and tried to pull his hand out of Logan’s grip. 

“Shh it’s ok. Right Vee?” Logan asked.

Virgil frowned. “Why he here?” 

“Because You two need to talk. You were really mean to him.” Logan said.

Virgil shifted then looked at Doggo. “Who’s that?” 

“Doggo.” Roman whispered tears falling down his cheeks. Logan frowned. He didn’t expect Roman to be this upset. 

“He’s cute.” Virgil said causing Roman to sniff. 

“R-reawy?” Roman asked the stress causing him to regress further. 

“Huhuh!” Virgil said, he reached out and gave Doggo a gentle pat. 

Roman gave a small smile. “You gentle.”

“Course!” Virgil shifted again. “Sorry yell at you.” Virgil said. 

Roman sniffed again. “Y-yeah?” 

“Yeah. I didn’t like bein call bad. Shouldn’t done that. Sorry.” Virgil said looking at his feet before peeking up at Roman’s face.

“So..I’m not...bad?” Roman asked hopeful. 

“Not bad.” Virgil agreed. 

Roman smiled. Then he tugged on Logan’s hand. “Can go back now?”

Virgil frowned at that. “But you gotta play!” 

“Yeah!” Remus added from where he was bouncing on the bed. 

Roman started to panic again. “N-no thank you.”

Logan thought about it. “Not today ok Vee? Maybe later. You go back and play with Remus.”

Virgil crossed his arms glaring. “I want him play too!” He said stomping his foot. 

“Not now.” Logan said firmly. 

“MEAN!” Virgil yelled. 

“Vee do you want a time out?” Logan asked sternly. 

Virgil blew a raspberry at him before storming over to the bed. He jumped up on it with Remus. Logan sighed but took Roman from the room. They got back to the kitchen and Janus rushed over, patton no where in sight. 

“What happened?” Janus asked as he dried Roman’s eyes. 

“Virgal say sowwy.” Roman explained. 

Janus raised an eyebrow at Logan. “And he was with Virgil because?” 

“I figured it would help.” Logan said.

“Ask first next time.” Janusa firmly as he held Roman. “We don’t want to traumatize him more.” Logan agreed to that. “Now. Go find Patton. He went to look for Roman when we realized he ran off...not that he did it alone.” 

Logan looked sheepish at that and left. 

“Mama I in trouble?” Roman asked in the quietest whisper. 

“No. You aren’t in trouble.” Janus promised. He would have to double check that Virgil was actually sorry later and keep a closer eye on Logan in case he got any other ideas, but for now things were fine. 

“You want to help top the pizza?” Janus asked.

“Yeah!” Roman said in an almost normal volume voice. Janus kissed the top of his head before leading him over to the pizzas.


	268. Scarlett two

Roman had dropped in the middle of movie night and Patton had started to suggest that he go to bed early. Janus and Remus firmly argued that he was clearly not tired so why go to bed? Daring Patton to say what he meant. 

“...Alright.” Patton said clearly not happy about it. 

Roman was perfectly well behaved throughout the rest of movie night, only shifting around a little or whispering a comment to Janus. Still Virgil and Logan kept looking over at him annoyed. 

“Is there a problem?” Remus asked.

“One.” Virgil said shooting Roman a glare that caused him to look down at his lap. 

“I’ll..go to bed...now.” Roman forced out in his adult voice. Janus grabbed Roman’s arm before he could stand. 

“I think if they have a problem with it they should be the ones to leave.” Janus said coldly towards the other three.

Logan sighed. “Janus do you even know why this is problem?” 

“Enlighten me.” Janus said in a flat tone.

“Roman is a bit...much.” Patton said.

Janus raised an eyebrow. “Really? I thought he was just sitting here. In fact Virgil’s scoffing has been more of an annoyance.” 

Virgil shot up at that. “He’s being fucking weird!” 

“YOU’RE ROOM IS FULL OF SPIDERWEBS!!!” Remus argued. 

Roman whimpered at the noise. Janus put a hand on Remus’ arm, “Why don’t you take Roman to bed. I don’t think he needs to be here for this.” 

“For what?” Logan asked as Remus and Roman left. 

Janus took a breath before he started yelling. 

\---

Remus was tucking Roman into bed when he dropped too. He was just so mad! He crawled into bed with Roman and curled up next to him. He regressed a few years younger than Roman but he was in charge of taking care of him right now. So he did the only thing he could thing of which was cuddle him.

Roman was a bit confused but accepted the cuddles. They drifted off to sleep slowly. Holding on to each other.

\----

“You really think this is weird?” Janus hissed, “It’s healthy and you all bully him for it.” 

“Bully isn’t-”

“It is exactly what you’ve all been doing!” Janus cut Logan off. 

“He makes fun of us.” Virgil said.

“He doesn’t force you to hide part of yourself because it makes him uncomfortable! Do you think he enjoys it when you insult him?” Janus said. 

“Well-”

“Nothing. No. You don’t get to say anything except an apology.” Janus said firmly. He huffed. “Not if you’ll excuse me.” 

\---  
He walked in to find Remus and Roman asleep curled up together in bed. He sighed. He wasn’t surprised that Remus regressed too, he just hoped he could have held out a little longer. 

Either way. The others were never going to mess with them again. 

He would make sure of it. 

“Dee?” Remus muttered rubbing his eyes.

“I’m here.” Janus said softly. “Go back to sleep.” 

“Mmmkay.” Remus said. “Kept safe.”

“You did good. Rest now.” Janus said tucking the blanket around him. 

Remus hummed and drifted off to sleep again. Janus summoned a book and a chair. He said down and started reading. He knew they would have more of a nap than sleep since they were both still in their day clothing, he would get them changed before tucking them in for the night then. 

For now he’ll let them sleep, and keep an eye out.


	269. Salamander green

No one knew that Remus regressed other than Janus and Virgil. When Virgil left he didn’t stop taking care of Remus. He did it in secret of course but he never stopped. 

After Remus first showed up to Thomas he dropped and Virgil was too upset to handle him.  
“Not now.” Virgil said. 

Remus sat outside Virgil’s door in his snail pjs and holding his stuffed squid and waiting for his caregiver just like Virgil told him to do when he was busy. 

He waited.

And waited.

And waited. 

A few hours passed and Virgil still didn’t let him in. Remus fell asleep against the door and was woken up by Roman yelling. “What are you doing?” 

“Watin.” Remus muttered rubbing his eyes.

“For what?” Roman asked, narrowing his eyes, brushing Remus’ weird tone off as just him waking up.

“Veevee. Said wait den buze.” Remus yawned before frowning at the door again. Why wasn’t he letting him in?

Roman was thrown off by the weird voice and didn’t press Remus for answers as Remus knocked on the door. “Veevee?” 

“Not now Remus!” Virgil snapped. 

Remus nodded and sat back ready to wait more. Still busy. He started playing his squid. Roman crouched down to Remus’ level. “What is that?” 

“Squish!” Remus said holding the squid out before hugging him. “He a squishy and He my squish!” 

God. Roman could not deny that was adorable. He had no idea why his brother was being freakishly cute but it was better than him bashing his head in. 

“That’s a good name.” He choked out. “Why are you acting like this?” Was it a stress thing?

Remus knew that Roman wasn’t supposed to know. “Veevee?” He asked again.

“GO AWAY REMUS!” Virgil yelled.

Remus stared at the door in shock before bursting out crying. The door opened and Virgil looked panicked. “Oh god, Remus I’m so sorry!” 

Remus was crying silently holding his stuffed squid to his chest, Roman felt pissed off at Virgil for yelling at Remus when he was so clearly in a….delicate state of mind. Virgil glance over and did a double take when he saw Roman. 

“Roman.” He choked out. 

“Mind explaining?” Roman said, his voice cold. Virgil cursed under his breath. 

“Don’t worry about it.” Virgil said kneeling down next to Remus. “Ree buddy. I’m so sorry.”

Remus looked at Virgil a little afraid. “Sowwy.” 

Virgil hugged him. “It wasn’t your fault. God I’ve been so in my head I didn’t even think...How long have you been out here?” 

“While.” Remus muttered into squish. 

Virgil looked extremely guilty. “Let’s get you some food and then we can play a game. Ok buddy?” 

Remus sniffed and rubbed his eyes. “Mkay….No more yell?” 

“No more yelling. I’m sorry.” Virgil said taking Remus’ hand and pulling him to his feet. Remus clung to Virgil’s arm as he took his to the kitchen. Roman followed.

“Need something Princy?” Virgil asked coldly.

“..No… I guess not.” Roman said giving Remus a strange look before leaving. 

“Did...did Roman say anything to you while you were waiting?” Virgil asked worried.

“He ask bout squish!” remus said happily. “Said it good nam. Den….you yellen.” Remus said looking down.

“Buddy I can’t apologize enough. I kept you waiting for-” Virgil glanced at the clock and made a shocked noise. “Five hours?” He cleared his throat. 

“It ok. I’m bad.” Remus said hugging Squish and petting the soft plush fabric. 

“Remus.” Virgil said getting his attention. “You aren’t...bad. At least not so bad that...I mean...Yeah you are kinda of a problem….but…” Virgil was stuttering over this. He couldn’t just say that the embodiment of Intrusive thoughts wasn’t bad. Of course Anxiety wasn’t really good either. “If you’re bad then I am too. We can be bad together.” Virgil said.

Remus smiled at that. “Mkay...an dee.” 

“Dee can be bad with us too.” Virgil said. 

Remus giggled, “Evil boys.” 

Virgil snorted at that. “Alright. What do you want to eat, ya gremlin?” 

“Chicken nuggets and blood sauce!” It was ketchup but calling it blood sauce made Remus happy. 

“Ok.” Virgil said. “Dino shaped?” 

“Yeah! Bit da heads off.” Remus giggled, “Dino murder!” 

Virgil poured him a cup of fruit punch in a sippy, “Here’s your blood juice to go with your bloody dinos.” 

Remus beamed and took the sippy and food. He bit all their heads off before smearing ketchup on the necks. “Dead dead dead!” He said rocking back and further as he chewed on them.

Virgil watched, still feeling guilty. He was going to have to make it up to him for making him wait so long and then yelling. 

“Veevee wan some?” Remus asked holding out a half eaten nugget.

“Thanks buddy.” Virgil said taking it. He had been working on getting Remus to share so he wasn’t going to turn it down. 

“Welcome!” Remus said before taking a drink. 

Things would be ok.


	270. Salamander green two

Roman got use to seeing Remus around more. Always in that other state of mind and clinging to Virgil who was extremely hostile towards Roman the first few times. After Roman didn't do anything other than be polite he started to back off on the protectiveness.

Remus started getting excited to see him and would talk about random things with him. Well....babble. he was age Regressed, something that Virgil explained as Remus sat in his lap giggling.

Roman started making things for Remus while he was little. He loved watching Remus light up when he got the gifts, or telling him stories, or helping watch him with Virgil.

It didn't take long before Roman was just as protective of Little Remus as Virgil was. He wasn't a caregiver, just an older brother.

\---

Roman and Remus sat on the couch together, Remus snuggled up to Roman with his teether and squish. They watched a kid's t.v. show about monsters. Janus and Virgil watched from across the room.

"I totally expected this outcome." Janus lied.

"I know." Virgil agreed a fond smile on his face.

"You've gone soft." Janus said bumping Virgil with his elbow. 

Virgil Rolled his eyes and elbowed him back, "oh shut up." 

Janus laughed. "You going to join them?" 

"And watch that episode again? No thanks. Roman can suffer through that for me." Virgil said lightly.

Janus laughed. 

"We can hear you!" Roman said.

"Yeah! Hears chu!" Remus added before blowing a raspberry at them causing everyone to laugh.

\----

Roman was surprised to find a not regressed Remus outside his door. "Do you need something?" Roman asked not unkindly , just confused.

Remus was scowling before he shoved something into Roman's hands. It was a red squid like squish. It had a sash and crown sewn onto it's head. "I thought we could match." He muttered.

"Thank you. I love it." Roman said moved by the gift. Remus' smiled brightly. 

"Good....whelp I have to go do...something." Remus said before leaving.

Roman looked at the stuffed squid. He saw a note tucked into the sash. 

'thanks u. Lov u!' was scribbled in Little Remus' handwriting in red and green crayon. 

"Love you too bro." Roman whispered.


	271. Ruby redder

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you are all taking care of yourselves! Remember to get some food, some water and some sleep. Take your meds, and all that jazz. Stay safe and...yeah.

Roman threw away more notes. Nothing he was making was any good! He had been working all day and didn’t make anything good enough. He dropped as tears sprung to his eyes. 

“Stupid.” He muttered as he wiped at his eyes. He huffed before sweeping everything off his desk and slamming his hands down before putting his face down in his arms and crying. 

His door opened, “You ok…” The question died on Logan’s tongue as he took in the state Roman was in. The mess on the floor, the prince sobbing. 

“Hey. can you tell me what’s wrong?” Logan asked gently, picking up on the fact that Roman was regressed. 

“Nofin worken! All stupid!” Roman snapped, rubbing at the tears falling down his face. He sniffed as he let himself be pulled into Logan’s arms.

“I think it’s time for a break. Why don’t we get you into some jammies and then we can color and get a snack?” Logan asked, rubbing Roman’s back.

“Can have peanut buter an jam?” Roman asked. 

“Of course Biscuit.” Logan said moving Roman so he was sitting on his bed. Logan pulled out a pair of extra soft and fluffy bunny pj’s for Roman to put on and started gathering up supplies for coloring with Roman’s little gear while he changed.

“Ready?” Logan asked a basket tucked under one arm the other reaching out for Roman to grab on to. 

Roman grabbed his hand and nodded, slipping that much further into his littlespace. “Paci?” Logan shifted so Roman could reach in the basket and pull out his paci. He popped it in his mouth and they went downstairs. 

Logan turned on the t.v to play some cartoons and set Roman up with the coloring stuff on the coffee table before going to make him a snack. 

Roman hummed happily distracted with his coloring. He slowly relaxed. He didn’t need to worry about his work, or anything else at the moment. Just let Logan take care of him. 

Logan came back with heart shaped sandwiches and milk in a sippy cup. Roman was mildly disappointed that it wasn’t a bottle. 

But he didn’t have a bottle. 

And he wasn’t a baby. 

But he wanted to be.

Logan noticed that something was bothering him. “Something wrong biscuit?” Roman hesitated. “You can tell me anything.” Logan said softly sitting down next to him. 

“Ca-can I be baby?” Roman asked around his paci.

Logan looked at him confused. “Aren’t you already baby?” 

Roman’s courage failed him and he shrugged before picking up a crayon again. Logan frowned. “Roman?”

Roman teared up. He felt stupid for wanting to be littler. He would be harder to take care of and he didn’t want to force Logan to have to handle that. 

Logan pulled him into his lap. “Let me guess… You want to be even smaller?” Roman shyly nodded not meeting Logan’s eyes. “I think we can do that.” 

Roman looked at him with a weak smile. “No bother?” 

Logan kissed his forehead. “No bother.” He looked at the sandwiches, “Those aren’t fit for a baby like you. We need to get you a bottle don’t we?”

Roman felt himself drop further at the words and he giggled and nodded. Logan set him down to take the food back to the kitchen. Before Roman could start to worry or overthink this, Logan came back with a bottle. 

He pulled Roman into his lap and held onto the bottle for Roman to drink from. Roman felt his thoughts slip more until he was content to just drink and curl against Logan all his worries gone. 

Logan smiled at him as Roman’s eyes drooped and he slowly drifted off to sleep in Logan’s lap. Logan sat there holding him as he napped. 

The stress forgotten, replaced by a sense of security and comfort. 

Of love.


	272. Koala

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Less of a chapter and more cute idea I had and didn't really have any clue on how to flesh out. >.<
> 
> I'm taking a mental health day so this is the best I got for today. *SELF CARE* Take care of yourselves and take a break if you need one.

Remus was clinging onto Roman’s back like a baby koala. Roman when about his day like normal ignoring the shocked and questioning stares from the others. So Remus liked to just hang on to Roman when he was regressed and either watch what his brother and caregiver was doing or nap. 

Remus made little whining noises as he made grabby hands over Roman’s shoulders towards a blanket. Roman picked it up and threw it over his shoulders and Remus. Remus hummed happily as he tucked his face against Roman’s shoulder and promptly fell asleep.

“What...are you doing?” Logan asked.

“Shh. He’s napping.” roman stage whispered. 

Logan blinked before shaking his head and moving on. 

Roman stood at his desk working as his brother slept. Carrying his brother around like this was half of his workout. He got to the point that he barely noticed Remus there as he went about his business, only occasionally being interrupted by the little.


	273. Finding home part one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS WHO ENDED UP WRITING FOR THEIR MENTAL HEALTH DAY?? THIS BOI!   
> :D   
> ENJOY THIS SELF INDULGENCE CLASSIFCAION AU!

Classified verse AU 

Janus was driving back home, Virgil in the passenger seat, his leg bouncing as he stared out the window. Virgil was a couple years younger than the rest of his friend group and was the last to take the classification test. His friends, Janus and Remus were both neutrals and Virgil expected that he would be too.

At least he hoped so. He knew he wasn't a caregiver. Or a little. He couldn't be either of those. He just….he couldn't.

"Breathe." Janus reminded him glancing over at his younger friend. He hated to admit it but he thought of Virgil as a younger brother, Having let the younger move in with him and Remus when he had run away from home. 

"Easy for you to say." Virgil muttered.

"It's going to be fine. Whatever you are we'll be here for you." Janus said. He didn’t need to ask his boyfriend to know that Remus would kill for the younger man, Let alone be there to support him.

Virgil nodded stiffly. He hated waiting and he had to wait a full week for his test results to get back. He started chewing on his thumbnail.

Janus frowned but didn't say anything about his own worries and suspicions that Virgil was a little...and a young one at that. What could he say that Virgil wasn’t already thinking( and worrying) about? 

\---

Virgil was a wreck by the end of the week. Remus' brother had stopped by and had been...weird. Roman was a caregiver as were his two friends. He tried babying Virgil within minutes of hearing that Virgil had taken the test. Remus ended up kicking him out so he would stop trying to get Virgil to regress.

Virgil had ended up crying over it due to stress and Janus had been quick to comfort him. Janus knew that he had regressed. He could tell by the look on Remus’ face that he knew too. Neither of them said anything as they pretended everything was normal as they calmed Virgil down. When Virgil’s thumb slipped into his mouth they didn’t say anything. 

\---

Virgil was silent as he looked at his test results and new Id card. It had been nearly an hour and Janus and Remus were worried.

"It can't be that bad." Remus said breaking the silence.

"I'm a little." Virgil said in a flat tone.

"...well it not too bad-"

"Zero to four age range." Virgil said in the same flat tone. "I have to get a caregiver."

"Does it say that?" Janus asked, holding out his hand for the documents. Virgil handed them over without looking up. Janus began reading with Remus peeking over his shoulder. Janus scanned through it, frown deepening with every word. Due to Virgil's age range and severe anxiety he was required to find someone to watch him.

Someone….not solely a caregiver.

"I don't want to have some stranger taking care of me." Virgil sniffed, tearing up. Remus moved closer and put an arm around his shoulders. Little’s often regress soon after getting their results back due to the stress. Not that Virgil hadn’t regressed before, he just hadn’t put a name to it yet. 

Janus felt awful about how upset Virgil was. So he spoke before really thinking. "We'll do it." Janus said.

"Wha-what?" Virgil asked looking up at him with a softer expression then Janus had ever seen before.

"Yeah!" Remus said jumping on the idea train. 

"But I have to find-"

"Someone." Janus said, showing the sentence to Remus and Virgil. "It says nothing about it being a caregiver."

Virgil smiled shyly. "Would you really do that for me?"

"We already take care of you emo, this isn't a change." Remus said lightly.

Janus watched as Virgil brightened and he couldn't feel bad about his rash decision. He had no idea how to take care of a little but how hard could it be? 

\---

Virgil dropped as soon as they set foot in the store. He held onto Remus’ arm as Janus led them through the aisles of little gear. Virgil stumbled a bit until Remus suggested a piggyback ride. He clung to Remus’ back and excitedly pointed to things babbling. They got the basics. Pacifiers, diapers, onesies, a few toys and bottles. 

Virgil was giggly and kept hugging Remus causing him to beam. Janus smiled at them fondly. Maybe this would work out after all. They got to the checkout counter and Remus tensed. Janus was momentarily confused before he recognized the cashier. It was one of Roman’s caregiver friends. His nametag said Patton.

“Remus! Hi!” Patton Said as he scanned their items. 

“Hi.” Remus said, shifting as if that would hide Virgil from view. Virgil was too little to understand what was going on. 

“Awww. Is that Virgil?” Patton asked. “I didn’t know he was a little.” 

“He’s not.” Janus lied. Remus and Janus came to the same conclusion before that no one could know that Virgil was little if they could help it. Especially not Remus’ brother. Roman had been looking for a little to care for since he had taken the test and he would no doubt bother Virgil endlessly if he found out. 

Patton frowned and titled his head before looking at the stuff. “Then..” 

“Gifts.” Janus said as Remus slowly walked towards the entrance of the store. Ready to take off. Virgil was dozing with his head on Remus’ shoulder.

“Ah!...Is he ok?” Patton asked.

“Just tired. Too many late nights.” Janus said smoothly as he paid for the items. 

“Ok! Have a nice day!” Patton said. 

“You as well.” Janus said a little stiffly before turning the cart towards the door and motioning for Remus to exit. 

“Do you think he knows?” Remus asked as he buckled Virgil in who was barely awake sucking on one of the new pacifiers. 

“Probably. He’s not a complete idiot.” Janus said. “Let’s just hope he doesn’t tell your brother.” 

Remus didn’t need to say that by tomorrow Roman would know that Virgil was a little. The drive home was quiet save the occasional nuisance sleep babbling from Virgil.

\--

It turned out a week went by before Roman showed up. “Why didn’t you tell me Virgil regressed?” Was the first words out of his mouth when Janus opened the door.

“Because it’s none of your business.” Janus said. Roman and Virgil got along even less than Roman and Remus did. They weren’t friends by any stretch of the word so it really wasn’t Roman’s business. 

Of course that didn’t stop him. 

“Does he have a caregiver yet?” Roman asked.

“He has someone to watch him.” Janus said side stepping the question. Roman’s eyes narrowed as he looked passed Janus towards where Virgil and Remus were talking in the living room.

“It’s not Remus is it?” Roman asked.

“And if it was?” Janus said, raising an eyebrow and leaning to block Roman’s view of the two. 

Roman crossed his arms. “Remus isn’t a caregiver.” 

“Maybe a caregiver isn’t what Virgil needs.” Janus said. 

“Why don’t I ask him that?” Roman asked, stepping closer. Janus didn’t move.

“I’d rather you leave.” Janus said in a bored voice. 

Roman huffed before turning away. He stopped, “Can you ask him to call me?” He asked.

Janus rolled his eyes. “Fine.” He closed the door. 

“Roman wants you to call him.” Janus said as he returned to the couch. 

“Ummm no.” Virgil said, causing Remus to laugh. Virgil continued, “What’s he want anyways?” 

“Probably wants to be your caregiver.” Remus blurted out. 

Virgil froze causing the other two to look at him. “What?” He forced out. “Why the fuck would he want that? He hates me!” 

“Who knows how he thinks?” Remus said shifting so his head was in Janus’ lap and his feet were in Virgil’s. 

Virgil shifted so he was sitting on the arm of the couch so Remus could put his feet on him again. He stared off at the wall. Janus got an uneasy feeling in his stomach. 

“Who wants pizza for supper?” He blurted out.

Virgil looked over at him as Remus started listing off the toppings he wanted, half of which you couldn’t order. 

\---

Virgil ran into Patton again a few weeks later. “Hiya kiddo!” 

Virgil tensed and turned to glare at Patton causing the older to take a step back. “I’m not that much younger than you.”

“Aren’t you a little?” Patton asked.

“...maybe.” Virgil said. “What’s it to you?” He snapped.

“Well I just want to make sure you’re being taken care of right.” Patton said. Before Virgil could snap at him again he continued, “I don’t care who, gosh I’m sure Remus could do it if he wanted too. I just don’t want you to end up mistreated by someone. That happens too often.” Patton said so concerned for Virgil’s well being that his guard dropped a little.

“I’m fine. Thanks for checking.” Virgil said not as sharply as before.

Patton smiled and nodded before handing Virgil a slip of paper. It had Patton’s number on it. “In case you ever need anyone to talk to.” 

Virgil gave him a two fingered salute before leaving. 

\----

Virgil tended to be cranky and Remus had no idea how to handle it. Janus wasn’t much better. They were both lost on how to get him to calm down and usually had to just wait till he wasn’t regressed anymore.

Playing with him was easy. Taking care of him….

It was a lot more than just buying supplies and calling it a day. Turns out there as a headspace that Caregivers had that helped them take care of littles. Something similar to a parent. They just knew what to do by the type of crying or fussing. 

“It just sounds like he’s upset.” Remus said distressed as Virgil sobbed. 

“Has he eaten?” Janus asked.

“Yes!” 

“Uuuugh, napped?” 

“He just woke up.” remus said.

“Diaper?” 

“Dry.” 

Virgil hiccuped and sobbed harder. The two looked at each other. Janus scowled, “Damn it! Call your brother.” 

“What?” Remus yelped.

“Do you have a better idea?” Janus snapped.

\---

Roman held Virgil as he sucked on his pacifier and batted at Roman’s keys which were being dangled over his head. Remus was pissed and Janus was trying not to kick the only person who was helping out. He wanted to be the one that could calm Virgil down. 

But he couldn’t. 

Neither he or Remus were capable of taking care of Virgil like he needed to be. 

He hated it. 

“Roman how do you feel about helping take care of Virgil?” Janus asked, ignoring Remus’ shocked gaze. 

Roman was thrilled. 

Virgil was not.

“I do NOT want HIM taking care of me!” Virgil said. 

Janus agreed, but they didn’t have much choice. “Well do you want to go hunt for someone that we don’t know?” 

“Janus-” Virgil started.

“Remus and I can’t do this.” Janus said brutally honest. It hurt him to see the look of pain that crossed Virgil’s face before Virgil blocked him out. Janus watched as Virgil stormed off. 

He wished he said something.

Patton didn’t expect to get a call from Virgil, and he definitely didn’t expect him to be sobbing half regressed. “What’s going on kiddo?” Patton asked, managing to keep the panic out of his voice.

“They-they don’t wanna take care of me anymore and….I don’t want Roman!” Virgil cried.

“Ok. shhh. It’s ok. Deep breathes ok? Can you breathe for me?” Patton asked.

Virgil took a few deep breaths. “Sowwy.” 

“No. It’s ok kiddo. You don’t have to be sorry.” Patton said gently. “Do you want to talk about something else?” 

“Huhuh.” Virgil agreed sniffing before rubbing his eyes. 

“I saw a puppy today-

Virgil ended up calling Patton anytime he got upset or needed someone to talk to. He accidentally called Patton Papa once and Patton asked if he wanted him to be his caregiver. Virgil agreed quickly.


	274. Twin fluff one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thia can be Human au or not. Up to you.

"TAKE A BATH!" Roman yelled trying to corner Remus.

"Never!" Remus yelled before sneezing from the dust covering his body. He shook his head causing a cloud of dirt and grim to float into the air. Roman couched waving his hand in front of his face to clear the air.

Remus laughed before coughing, Roman grabbed him while he was distracted and threw him over his shoulder. Remus, being picked up, regressed. 

"No! Nonono! No baft!" He yelled struggling to get loose.

Roman set him down once they were in the bathroom and the door was locked. Remus pouted as he sat on the floor arms crossed. 

"Come on bubby you need a bath." Roman said.

"No!" Remus said tearing up. 

"What if it was a bubble bath?" Roman suggested turning the water on.

Remus sniffed, eyes widening at the thought. "Bub batf?" 

"Yeah. And we can make colored bubbles too." Roman said as he made sure the water was warm enough. 

"Geen?" Remus asked. "An rea?" 

"We can make green and red." Roman said as he helped Remus undress (coughing a few times) and then climbing into the tub. Remus watched excited as Roman added the bubble soap that foamed into Green and Red bubbles.

Remus squealed and giggled as he splashed with both his hands soaking Roman who sighed heavily. 

By the time Remus was clean Roman had been drenched and the floor had a thin layer of water covering the titles. The bubbles were mostly gone so Remus was eager to leave, the thrill wearing off..

Roman got him dressed in Clean pjs before drying off and getting in clean clothing himself. "Now, let's not go crawling around in the attic again. Ok?" 

Remus huffed. "No purmiss." 

Roman sighed before ruffling Remus' hair.


	275. Twin fluff two

Roman and Remus had their own Movie nights once a month in one of their rooms. They would set up a Blanket fort and get snacks and pick the dumbest scary movies to laugh at together. It was a meet in the middle between Roman's need for something fun and Remus want of something gory. 

This time they were meeting in Remus' room, and Roman was feeling nervous. He had been on the edge of regressing all day and he didn't want to postpone Movie night. It was harder enough finding time that they were both free to do it. 

He dropped as soon as he walked into Remus' room and found the whole place was a blanket fort, His brother going above and beyond as always. A large meal worth of snacks were scattered in bowls around the fort and Remus' mattress was set on the floor for them to sit on to watch the movies. Roman was almost bouncing with excitement.

Remus laughed as Roman sat down next to him as he was setting up the movie. Roman reaching for his water bottle that Remus had already filled with soda. Roman dropped and was relieved it didn't spill.

"Careful. No need to add more stains to the carpet." Remus joked.

Roman nodded not speaking. Remus looked at him. "You feeling ok?" 

"Just excited." Roman said. He didn't babytalk when he was little he went nonverbal if he drop far enough. 

"You're going to love this one!" Remus said as he turned on the movie. "The acting is Sooo bad!" 

Roman hummed in agreement of his brother's statement as he reached over for some chips. The movie started out boring. There was some kind of love triangle that Roman just didn't care about while little. 

Remus kept waiting for Roman to start complaining about the acting and how over done it was.

Nothing happened causing him to get confused and a little concerned. Was he feeling ok? He had been quieter than normal and he seemed distracted.

Remus didn't want to force Roman to talk to him so he decided to make fun of the acting himself. Roman laughed a few times but didn't join in. 

Weird.

It wasn't untill the first jumpscare that Remus figured it out. Roman jumped and teared up as he hugged himself. "Ro? Are you feeling little?"

Roman whimpered before nodding. Remus put an arm around him. "Hey. It's ok. Do you want to watch something else?"

Roman shook his head. He pointed to Remus. "I'm fine with watching something else."

Roman shook his head again and pointed at the movie then back and Remus. It took him a minute to figure it out. "Of course I won't let anything get to you. We can keep watching if you want."

Roman nodded. He did like scary things when little but he wanted to be sure nothing would get him. With his brother there he felt safe.

Remus didn't remove his arm from around Roman the whole movie. He mocked the monsters which caused Roman to be less afraid of them. Roman jumped at all the scary moments and giggled afterwards. He was safe. 

Still after the horror movie Remus put on a cartoon movie that normally Roman wouldn't watch but since he was little didn't mind it. They ate more snacks and Remus left briefly to get Roman his sippy which was easier for the little to drink out of.

Roman fell asleep and Remus tucked a blanket around him before cleaning up. They may have been room for both of them to sit on the mattress but there wasn't room for both of them to sleep there so Remus got out a sleeping bag and put it close to the mattress but far enough away the Roman couldn't kick him in his sleep.

"Sleep tight buddy." Remus said.

Roman muttered something in his sleep before snuggling under the blanket. Remus laughed under his breath.


	276. Chapter 276

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am haz cold. Cold meds be trippen. Hehe.

Remus crossed his arms as he glared at Virgil who was holding an infant Logan. "It's my turn to hold him!" 

"Yeah but he's sleeping. You can hold him after his nap." Virgil said holding the baby closer.

"But he might not be little anymore then." Remus whined.

"Shhh. We don't want to wake him." Virgil said.

Janus looked up at them. Every since Logan had admitted to them that he regressed Virgil anf Remus had been fighting over who gets to take care of him. Janus wasn't upset about not getting to holding him at all. Nope. 

"Just let Remus hold him." Janus said instead of, give him to me. Which would have just caused a bigger fight.

Virgil reluctantly handed over Logan who woke up be before snuggling against Remus and falling back asleep. 

Virgil glared at both of them. Normally he would storm from the room but he didn't want to leave Logan. 

It was less than an half hour later when Logan woke up. He was still regressed and Virgil and Remus were quick to get in a fight over who got to hold him now. They started yelling at each other. 

Janus was quick to take Logan from them. "Shut up." He hissed before cooing to Logan. "It's ok. Everything is ok." Logan didn't look upset but Janus was.

Virgil and Remus at least looked guilty over going too far. Logan babbled at Janus clearly complaining. "Was it too loud? I'm sorry."

More babbling. 

"Would you like a snack?" Janus asked. He took the nonsense noises Logan made as a yes and went to go get the little some food, leaving Virgil and Remus to apologise to each other.

"You're going to have to talk to them." Janus told Logan as the little was shoving banana slices in his mouth.

"Duuh." Was Logan's answer. 

Janus narrowed his eyes. "You're smarter then you act aren't you."

Logan looked away clearly trying to act innocent. Janus gasped. "You like it when they fight over you!" He accused.

Logan still wouldn't look at him. Janus laughed. "Sneaky baby."

Logan giggled. Maybe he did like having people fight over him. That people want to be around him so much they argued over it. 

Janus wouldn't tell. Maybe he would fight a little bit too. 

If it made Logan happy there wasn't that much harm in it was there? 

\---

"Are you kidding me?" Virgil demanded as he and Remua stared at a not Regressed Logan who shifted awkwardly under their disappointed gazes.

"Sorry I just....I sorry." Logan said.

"You should have told us sooner." Remus said firmly causing Logan to wince. 

"Yeah.... We could have really been fighting this whole time." Virgil said shaking his head.

Logan blinked. "What?" 

"You think our bickering was fighting? You haven't seen emo and me really fight." Remus said gleefully. 

"You aren't mad?" Logan asked.

"Of course we're not mad. We've been dialing back to make sure to not upset you." 

Maybe it was selfish.

"Back off! It's my turn!"

Maybe he shouldn't encourage it.

"Nope! Times up!" 

But it was how they showed their love.

"Janus! Give him back!" 

Laughter.

It felt good to be loved.


	277. Marigold

Janus hummed to himself as he played with legos. Having completely forgotten to set an alarm to remind him to snap out of his regression before movie night. So when Roman come knocking he jumped startled. He looked at the clock and frowned as he barely recognised the numbers.

Uh oh.

"Janus? You in there?" Roman asked. Janus got up and slowly opened the door. Roman wouldn't be mad that he was Regressed. He didn't exactly have a caregiver, everyone just pitched in to take care of him when he was smaller.

"Um.....small." he said.

Roman blinked. "Oh. That's ok buddy. Do you still want to watch a movie with us?" 

Janus grabbed Roman's hand nodding. "Can sit wif you?" He asked. 

Roman lit up at the question and squeezed Janus' hand. "Of course! Now come on. We don't want the movie to start without us!" 

Janus gasped and stumbled his way to the living room pulling Roman with him. He dropped into the couch next to Patton and where Roman was going to sit. 

"Someone feeling teeny tiny?" Patton asked.

Janus giggled and nodded. "Yeah!" 

"Yay!" Patton said.

"Yaya!" Janus cried making everyone laugh a little. 

Janus curled up against Roman before Remus walked in. He looked at Remus and made grabby hands.

"You don't want to stay here?" Roman asked disappointed. 

Janus frowned and whined looking between patton and the twins. Remus quickly solved the problem by picking Janus up and sitting where he had been, setting Janus in his lap. 

Janus giggled and clapped. "Yaya!" 

"Yay!" Remus said.

"YAYA!" Janus yelled at the top of his lungs causing more laughter.

Janus held Patton and Roman's hands while leaning into Remus' arms. He dozed off in the middle of the first movie and woke up as he was being tucked into bed.

"Sleep well little slither." Remus said kissing the top of Janus' head.

Janus sighed content. He was glad he forgot his alarm.


	278. Golden poppy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone else regress when they hear angry yelling?

Janus liked to say he was fearless, but that wasn't exactly true. Whenever someone got mad, really mad, yelling mad it would trigger him to regress and not in a fun way. 

People yelling or slamming items down always made his heart speed up and for him to go quiet. Everyone else thought he was just waiting for them to calm down before he continued speaking when really he was fighting to not cry or drop too hard in front of them.

\---

It had been a frustrating day for everyone and Janus hadn't been sleeping. So when Logan slammed his hands down on the table and yelled at Roman for not taking him seriously, he dropped.

Hard.

He whimpered and his breathing quickened as tears appeared in his eyes. Everyone's eyes turned towards him, Logan turned towards him still looking pissed off. 

Janus burst out crying terrified. He wanted to run but he couldn't get his limbs to move. He was stuck and Logan was there and he was mad and the others were going to be mad now and...

"Breathe for me." Virgil said gently taking one of Janus' hands.

"Janus I-" Logan started only for Janus to whimper and flinch away from him. "I'm not mad at you."

Janus tried to calm down as he felt a pair of arms around him, Virgil was holding. He wouldn't let anything happen to him. But he was still scared.

It took awhile for him to snap out of his regression. He was still unease around Logan. "Does this happen everytime someone yells?"

"It's not that bad normally." Janus said weakly. 

"Kiddo you could have told us." Patton said.

"We'll try to not yell so much." Roman added.

Janus smiled a little that they were willing to change their behaviors for his comfort. And knowing them getting rid of yelling was going to be difficult. 

But they willing to work on it.


	279. Daffodil yellow

It was rare for Janus to have a nightmare bad enough that he regressed because of it. But when it did happen he waa terrified and ran to the closest person for comfort. 

On this particular evening he ended up in Thomas' bedroom scaring him awake. "Janus what-" he was cut off by Janus' tackling him sobbing.

It took Thomas' sleepy brain a minute to catch up. He hugged Janus and rocked him slowly. "Hey it's ok buddy.. bad dreams?" 

"Hahuh." Janus sniffed as he shifted so he was sitting on the bed next to Thomas.

"Do you want to stay here with me?" Thomas asked.

"Yes peas." Janus whispered. 

Thomas pulled out the comfort teddy bear that he kept in his nightstand for when one of them showed up Regressed and upset. Janus cuddled it to his chest and curled against Thomas.

"Think you can sleep?" Thomas asked tired.

"But...sleep has bad stuffs." Janus whispered.

"I'm here to keep the bad stuff away." Thomas promised. "And if it does get through you can always wake me up."

Janus didn't want to but he already felt bad waking Thomas up.

Janus slowly nodded. He let his eyes drift shut and fell asleep listening to Thomas' heartbeat. The sound soothing him in his sleep. 

He woke up no longer regressed and slightly embarrassed. 

"You know I don't mind taking care of you. Right?" Thomas said.

"I know....still feel silly." Janus muttered.

"Well I'm still here for you anyway." Thomas said with a yawn before leaving.

Janus smiled softly at the teddy bear. 

He didn't feel as bad waking up Thomas the next time.


	280. Daisy white

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody. I accidently spent most of yesterday regressed and building a pillow fort on my bed and forgetting to write anything until like one in the morning today. whoops. 😅

Remy was cuddled up next to Emile as he absentmindedly sucked on the edge of his sleeve. Emile kept trying to get him to use the pacifiers he got for him but Remy refused claiming that he didn’t need them. He was embarrassed that he regressed and didn’t want to admit that he wanted to use Little gear. Or make Emile take care of him while little. 

He eyed the pile of stuffies in the corner and tried so hard not to want to hug one of the large squishies that was shaped like a unicorn. It’s rainbow mane and white pink body looked so soft and nice to just pet or rub against his cheek and-

He sniffed as tears appeared in his eyes. He really wanted to hug the unicorn. Emile looked at him. “What’s wrong?” 

“I don’t wanna be little.” Remy muttered around his sleeve. 

“Oh hon.” Emile sighed. “I know you don’t like it but it happens.” 

Remy sobbed and Emile tightened his hold. “Shh. It’ll pass.” 

“I...I wanna stuffie.” Remy muttered. Emile paused. 

“Are you sure?” Emile asked. The last time he had given Remy a stuffie the little had torn it before throwing it across the room and then crying. 

“The unicorn.” Remy said. Emile nodded before getting up and getting it for him. He could always get a new one if Remy destroyed it. 

Remy was so slow and hesitant as he reached for it and pulled it to his chest. He rubbed the stuffed mane against his cheek before biting on the end of it. Emile decided that maybe he wouldn’t hate a paci at the moment and grabbed one that he got made just for the little. It was starbucks themed with Remy written on it. Remy took it slowly and popped it into his mouth.

He glared and started crying. “Stupid.” He hid his face in the stuffie and sobbed. 

“Sweetie no. It’s not stupid.” Emile said softly he pulled Remy into his lap so he could hold him closer. Remy leaned against him tears running down his cheeks onto Emile’s shirt. Emile rocked him gently. “It’ll be ok.” 

Remy’s crying slowed as his eyes drifted shut. He fell asleep against Emile, who sighed heavily and wondered what he was going to do. 

\---

Remy didn't like regressing just because of how...helpless and small he felt. He knew that Emile was there for him. He felt like Emile would leave if he was too much of a bother. Conflicted he just tried not regressing which caused him to be irritated and snappish. It wasn't until he snapped at Emile causing him to leave the room that he realized that he was doing the very thing he was afraid of. 

"Em?" 

"Yes?" Emile asked hesitantly, almost like he was afraid of Remy. Remy felt extremely guilty. 

"I'm sorry I've been such an ass." Remy said. "I just...I don't want to push you away or make you take care of me." 

"Are you taking about regressing? Rem I'm completely fine taking care of you. I'm happy to do it even!" Emile said.

"I know you say that but-" 

"But nothing." Emile said firmly cutting him off. "I know this is hard for you but I'm not going to abandon you." 

Remy shifted awkwardly as Emile got to the heart of the issue. At least a large part of it. "You sure?" He asked small. 

Emile smiled and opened his arms. Remy curled up against Emile's chest and let him hold him. "I've got you. I'm not leaving. I promise." 

Remy snuggled closer. He put the end of his sleeve in his mouth. Maybe he could be little....at least for a little bit.


	281. Chartreuse-

“Come on guppy.” Patton said picking up a regressed Remus who had shifted to an infant. Remus babbled at him managing to grab Patton’s glasses from his face and throw them. Patton couldn’t see that well without his glasses and was clumsy more of the time anyway. This wasn’t good. 

Remus giggled proud of himself. As Patton sighed deeply. He wasn’t sure if he should call for someone to help or to just take care of it himself. After all he could still see his glasses...mostly. 

He managed to just get his glasses without dropping the baby. Remus however did manage to grab them and this time deciding to chew on the ear piece. 

“I need this.” Patton said gently, taking them and putting them on his face. Remus teared up and Patton felt bad before getting a pair of sunglasses and giving them to him. Remus was thrilled with them. So much so that a few hours later when he wasn’t regressed anymore he was still wearing them.

\----Bonus. 

“Hey has anyone seen my sunglasses?” Remy asked as Remus and Patton casually walked out of the room.


	282. Magic scent

Virgil was little, so of course that meant Remus was holding him. Piggy back ride, on his hip, curled up in his arms, over his shoulder. When Virgil was little he never touched the ground due to Remus just not wanting to let go of them.

“You can put him down.” Roman said, rolling his eyes. Virgil was clinging to Remus’ side and resting his head on Remus’ shoulder. 

“Are you kidding? And let him get hurt?” Remus said shocked. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that is for the baby? Because I do!” 

“Bada.” Virgil babbled. 

“Exactly!” Remus said as if Virgil just made a point that agreed with him and not nonsense noise. 

Roman rolled his eyes again but didn’t argue anymore. 

Virgil hummed happily as Remus carried him around. He loved being carried around. He had been falling over a lot when he was little before his caregiver decided it was safer to just hold him. It had only taken him stumbling and almost falling down the stairs for Remus to pick him up and never let him down when little again. 

Virgil had no complaints. Remus was always there and gave him whatever he wanted. He was constantly being cared for and had no fear that Remus would leave him. 

So yeah. It worked out pretty well. 

To the point that when Roman had to babysit Virgil was deeply upset that he was not being held and was very angry at him. 

“What?” Roman asked.

Virgil made grabby hands. Roman handed him a plushie. Virgil put it down and made grabby hands again. “Ugh! Ugh!” 

“Up?” Roman asked.

“Ugh!” Roman picked him up. Virgil clings to him tightly not letting himself be put down. 

Roman sighed but by the end of his babysitting time he understood why Remus would want to just hold Virgil. He didn’t try and talk Remus into putting Virgil down anymore and even offered to hold him if Remus needed to use both hands.


	283. Chartreuse- two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weird thing I've learned about kids. They freaking love sunglasses.

Remy found his sunglasses. Remus was wearing them. 

Regressed.

Remy wasn't surprised that Remus had managed to snatch them but he really needed them back now. He reached for them only for Remus to grip them to his face tightly. 

"No!" 

"Come on they aren't yours." Remy said.

"Noooo!" Remus yelled.

Remy sighed. "You really like those huh?"

Remus babbled in agreement. "Fine." 

Remus beamed as he got to keep them. "Fanks."

Remy wasn't that upset about having to buy a new pair.


	284. Sorry I said goodbye

Janus wasn't mad at Virgil for leaving at all. That would be petty. And selfish. And stupid... and....

He missed him. 

Despite how Virgil acted he did have a soft side, especially when it came to taking care of Janus when he was regressed.

But Virgil left and it's for the best. Janus told himself firmly, half Regressed and missing his caregiver. He's happy now so it's selfish to want him to come back. 

Janus wanted to see Virgil again though. But he knew the others wouldn't like him showing up. So he would just have to wait for Virgil to show up on his own. 

\---

Remus was trying but he just didn't have the skill to take care of Janus like Virgil did. Virgil seemed to pick up on small cues from the little that Remus just didn't see. 

So he was holding the little as he sobbed, crying for Virgil and being too small to understand why he wasn't there.

\---

It wasn't until Janus showed himself to Thomas that Virgil showed up again. Janus' excitement faded as he noticed how...pissed off Virgil was. That he really was mad at him and that wasn't for show.

"What the hell?" Virgil snapped.

Virgil never yelled at him before. Janus dropped. "I sowy...I jus....misses you." He said tearing up and hugging himself.

Virgil's glare softened. He sighed. "I'm sorry slither." He opened his arms and Janus threw himself into them sobbing.

"Shhh... It's gonna be ok." Virgil said. He would make sure it was. 

Aftet that they put on a bit of a show. Around the light sides they hated each other, but when they were alone or with Remus it was just like it use to be.


	285. They didn't...right?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one is a bit weird but eeeh. It was worth a shot.

Roman didn’t miss Remus at all, and Remus didn’t miss Roman. And they most certainly did not meet up in the deepest parts of the imagination where no one would find them. They didn’t take care of each other and watch each other's backs on adventures, nor did they gently care for the other when they regressed. 

There were no piggy back rides or lullabies. No notes that were snuck to each other to reassure them they weren’t alone.

Remus didn’t keep an eye on Roman so he didn’t overwork himself or tuck him into bed when he did. Roman didn’t let Remus rant and rave to him over his ideas.

Remus most certainly did not call Roman nicknames when he was little to make him feel safe, nor did he spend hours making hand sewn stuffies and costumes for the prince. 

Roman didn’t plan out safe adventures for Remus for when the duke was feeling small, and he didn’t comfort him after nightmares or arguments. 

Remus didn’t comfort Roman after the others were too harsh, or when he broke down from his lack of self worth. 

Roman didn’t comfort Remus saying that his brother mattered. 

They didn’t make cookies together in the middle of the night when no one else was awake. 

Nor did they sing duets while dancing like no one was watching because no one was watching. 

They didn’t care about each other. 

…..Right?


	286. Headache

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As someone who needs to be doing something all the time otherwise I feel useless. Taking time for yourself because you need it is one of the hardest things I struggle with. But I'm getting better at it.

Roman was little and his head hurt. The light was too bright and noises too loud and his temples throbbed as his eyes teared up. 

He was sitting at his desk hugging the stuffie he kept at his desk. Letting it absorb the tears of discomfort. There was a knock at the door causing him to whimper. 

"Are you ok?" Virgil asked peeking his head in. He noticed the state Roman was in before quickly flipping off the lights. He walked over and helped Roman stand. "Come on let's get you to bed."

"Owie." Roman whimpered.

"I know buddy. Sleep will help. And I'll get some pain meds ok?" Virgil said getting Roman into bed. "Have you had anything to drink?"

"Don't member." Roman whispered against his stuffie.

Virgil nodded. "Ok. I'm gonna get you a glass of water and some pain meds alright? Then I'll be back." He promised.

Roman whimpered but let him leave. Virgil stopped briefly to inform Logan that Roman had a headache before moving on to get the items.

"Can I come in?" Logan asked softly.

Roman made grabby hands for his other caregiver and Logan moved over and sat down on the bed next to him. Roman curled up against Logan's side pressing his face into his chest to block out the light. 

Virgil snuck back into the room with the pain meds and water. "Need you to take these bud." Virgil whispered holding out the pills. 

Roman's hand shook as he took them and put them in his mouth. Virgil handed him the sippy cup of water which Roman quickly drained half of getting the pills down. He tried to hand the sippy back to Virgil. 

"You need to drink all of it." Virgil said softly rubbing Roman's arm trying to comfort him.

Roman whined and looked to Logan for help. "It's going to help." Logan promised.

Roman reluctantly drank the rest of it. Then held it out, "juice peas?" He whispered.

"Ok but you also need to try and sleep ok?" Virgil said quietly before taking the sippy and going to fill it with juice. 

"Why sleep?" Roman asked.

"Sleep help your body hurt from the pain." Logan explained. 

Roman nodded then winced and teared up. It hurt his head to move and it made his stomach upset. "Icky." He whispered.

Logan held him, "just try and hold in for the pain meds to kick in ok?" 

Roman didn't say anything he just snuggled further into Logan's hold and shut his eyes again. He started to doze off and hadn't noticed Virgil was back till Logan and Virgil started whispering to each other.

"He'll be alright." Logan whispered rubbing soothing circles on Roman's back.

"This has been happening a lot." Virgil fretted.

"We'll figure it out." Logan promised. A hand moved from around Roman to grab Virgil's. 

Then it was silent again. Roman sighed and let himself sleep trying to ignore the pain like big him would do.

\---

"You need to be more careful and not overwork yourself." Virgil said when Roman was bigger and nursing a much milder headache. 

"But I need to get stuff done! I have so many ideas to work out!" Roman protested loudly then winced when the noise hurt his head.

"You'll have more time to get stuff done when you don't give yourself headaches all the time." Virgil shot back.

Roman couldn't argue with that. "But....when I start something I have to finish it!" 

Virgil frowned. "Maybe we should set a timer for you. Schedule time for you to relax." 

Roman hugged but let himself be talked into taking more breaks. 

It took a little bit for him to stop over working or working during the break times. But slow he was having less headaches. 

"I'm not getting as much done." Roman complained one afternoon.

"But you feel better." Logan said.

Roman sighed. "Yeah....can I be little for my break this afternoon?" 

Logan smiled, he couldn't remember the last time Roman had been little because he wanted to be not because the stress and pain made him small. "Of course."

Roman smiled at that. 

As he sat with Logan who was reading him a book, he thought that maybe taking breaks might not be that bad after all.

(This one kinda of feels like I just slapped regression into it but for me that's a core part of having an headache / migraine so please forgive the kind of off feeling this one has.)


	287. color me

Janus had many secrets but one of them was the fact that he had tattoos that he kept covered up. Line art tattoos that he gave himself when he was bored. He never showed his skin anyway. 

At least that was until he fell asleep while watching a regressed Remus. He woke up to the feeling of something rubbing his bare forearm. He snapped awake to find Remus coloring in a rose vine tattoo. Remus beamed at him. “ook ach pury!” 

Janus’ mind ran a million miles a minute switching between embarrassment and anger to just finding this so cute. He ended up rolling up his sleeve more so Remus could continue coloring. Despite being little Remus was fantastic at coloring inside the lines. 

After that Janus almost always had them colored in since it was Remus’ favorite thing to do when he was little. Everytime it was a different color scheme and Remus would even draw extra ‘tato pic’ around them. 

Janus was so proud of Remus’ work that he started wearing short sleeves just to show them off. Remus was thrilled with this little or big.


	288. Navy blue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back! :D

Logan was small but no one else needed to know that. As long as he was quiet then they won't notice. Not like they ever listened to him anyway. The fact that this worked hurt. That all he had to do to avoid them finding out was to just not talk was painful. 

Sometimes he didn't know why he even bothered showing up. Here he wanted to go to bed or play with his toys and instead he was pretending to read a smartie book and let everyone pretend that he wasn't there.

He huffed quietly and got up to leave, glancing around at the others only to find no one even looked up at him. He teared up as he walked away hugging himself. He crawled into bed and hid under the covers before he let himself cry.

He covered his mouth with his hand to muffle the sound and jumped when there was a knock at the door. "hey you left your book on the floor" Roman's voice called in.

Logan froze. He didn't move or make a sound. He didn't want to be yelled at and Roman sounded not happy. He heard the door open. "Logan?"

Footsteps closer and a dip in the bed next to him. Logan started shaking. Roman pulled back the covers. "Oh no. What's wrong?"

Logan sniffed. "don't like me." Logan muttered still crying. 

Roman looked guilty, " of course we like you! Why would you think we don't?" 

"Don't talk to me." Logan said wiping at the tears on his face. Roman gently used a tissue to dry Logan's face. 

"I thought you didn't like talking to us." Roman said.

Logan whined, "I do! You all....just....not like my words." 

"We don't like what you have to say?" Roman asked. Logan nodded. "We need to listen to you more." Roman muttered.

Roman pulled Logan into a hug. "I'll talk to the others about it. But for now what can I do to make my favorite nerd feel better?"

"Fav.it?" Logan asked eyes wide.

"Of course you are." Roman beamed at him. 

Logan hugged Roman tightly. "Thanks."

Roman chuckled, "of course bitty." He said having caught on to the fact Logan regressed a while ago but not wanting to call it out. 

"I'm a bitty." Logan giggled pleased with the nickname. 

Roman nodded as Logan yawned. 'someone needs a nap."

Logan whined. "Cuddle me?" 

Roman couldn't say no to that. He laid down with Logan and covered them both with the blanket, holding Logan as the little drifted off to sleep.


	289. Scared for you

Most people didn't think Remus couldn't feel afraid and that wasn't quite true. He could be absolutely terrified. Like right now as he walked in to find Patton, regressed and standing on a chair that was wobbling.

Remus barely managed to grab the chair and stop it from dumping patton on the floor. Patton didn't even notice as he managed to grab the cookie jar and hop down. He saw his caregiver and beamed.

"Look bubba! Cookie!" He said happily. 

Remus' heart was pounding in his chest and he forced a smile. "That's great bubbly." He picked up patton so the little was safe in his arms and couldn't give him another heart attack. "Let's go eat them on the couch while watching t.v huh?"

"Yeh!' patton cheered. 

Remus wasn't afraid of much. But there were moments.


	290. Thomas says part one.

Thomas and Nico were jabbering together as they worked on stacking blocks. Emile and Remy sitting next to the littles on the floor in case they needed help. Thomas leaning a bit on Emile as he was in his younger headspace, bordering on baby. Nico sat next to Remy and kept making him hold blocks for him.

"Gee" Thomas muttered holding a block.

"Green!" Nico agreed.

Emile gasped. "What smart babies we have!" He said causing them to giggle. 

"Yee." Thomas said at the same time Nico said yes. 

Remy's phone beeped. "Oh! Snack time!" 

"Fisip!" Thomas babbled.

"Fish chips? But I wanna fruit." Nico argued.

"Fissssssippppth!" Thomas responded.

Nico sighed before turning to Remy, "can we have Fish crackers AND fruit please?" 

Remy laughed, "sure thing kid. You want to help me set it up?" 

Nico nodded eager. Thomas watched and pouted. "Hep too!" 

Emile stood and picked up thomas so they could all go to the kitchen together. 

\---

After their snack was naptime. Something Thomas was more than ready for but Nico...

"I play quiet?" He whispered.

"It's nap time kid." Remy said shaking his head.

Nico huffed and cross his arms. Thomas looked up from his spot on the bed. "Dle."

Nico wavered. "I wanna stay up."

"Udles!" Thomas said whining slightly.

Nico was quick to crawl in bed and cuddle Thomas. "Hey it's ok. Don't be upset."

"Eep?" Thomas asked rubbing his eye. 

Nico shot a look at Emile and Remy as if this was their fault. "Yeah." He sighed. "I guess I can go to sleep." 

Emile beamed. "Sleep well."

"Nit." Thomas mutter half asleep.

Nico blew a raspberry causing Thomas to giggle and Remy roll his eyes.


	291. Pancakes please?

Patton made shaped pancakes for everyone big or little...except Remus. For Logan it's stars, Virgil got a bat, janus got a hat, and Roman got a crown and Remus got....round.

It was fine, he wasn't really part of the family. He knew that. But it still hurt. It hurt to see Patton make these super cool things for everyone else and he just got...a pancake. Boring and normal and loveless. 

It felt like a silent 'you don't belong here' everytime he saw the others enjoying their special pancakes he couldn't. That his was made with the least amount of effort and was clearly just done because Patton would feel guilty if he didn't. 

Remus wished they would just tell him to fuck off. Instead of sitting here and pretending that everything was fine.

So when Patton gave him his pancakes last and they were just round pancakes.... He dropped and started crying. 

"Oh kiddo what's wrong?" Patton asked. Everyone looking at him.

Remus sobbed and hugged himself standing. "I....bye." he said in his little voice causing everyone to get concerned. Remus darted out of the room causing a few people to call.him.back.

He got to his room and hid under the bed which he had turned into his hideout space. He grabbed his stuffed bear and hugged it to his chest. "Wanna be loved." 

The bear didn't speak but someone else did. "You are loved." Roman said peeking under the bed at his brother.

Remus shook his head. "No...pancakes are round!" 

Roman was more than a little confused. "Yes?"

"You get cool stuff cuz love you!" Remus said.

Roman blinked. "Oh...no. Remus. Of course we still love you." 

Remus shook his head. "Don't." Remus said.

"What if we changed the shape ok?" Patton asked peeking down the bed as well.

Remus nodded slowly.

He got pirate pancakes after that. And no one mentioned the fact that Patton had been making bomb pancakes for Remus the whole time.


	292. I've got anxiety part one

Virgil missed his caregivers but he wasn't going back or telling the light sides about it. So he was regressed in his room, trying to be quiet so as to not draw attention to his room.

Of course that was a bit of a problem as he kept forgetting and yelling. 

"Everything ok in there?" Patton asked concerned through the door.

"Y-yeah." Virgil said sounding terrified. He was dressed in his nightmare before christmas pj's and stuffies animals were scattered everywhere. 

"You don't sound like it doom and gloom." Virgil's stomach dropped. Roman was there too?

"If their is a problem we are more than willing to help." Logan too???

Virgil didn't say anything and say the doorknob turn. He ducked under the bed and scooted all the way under it so he was hidden.

"Anxiety?" Patton asked. "Kid....do."

"He has more stuffed animals than you do pat." Roman said looking around. This was not what he expected of the 'villians' lair.

"Anxiety?" Logan called.

Virgil whimpered causing Roman to drop down and look under the bed at him. "What are you doing?"

Virgil's lower lip trembled before he burst out crying causing Roman's eyes.to widen and he to back away.

"Anxiety?" Patton asked. "What's wrong?"

"Not suppos know I'm small." Virgil said crying. 

"Small....oh I see." Logan said. "Anxiety...do you age regress?" 

"Yeah." He hiccuped. 

He squealed when suddenly the bed was gone and he was being cuddled by Patton. "Oh kiddo. You could have told us." 

Roman was looking at Virgil thoughtful. "How...how young are you?"

"Four." 

"That's pretty young. I think we should make sure you aren't alone till you're bigger." Roman said softly.. 

Virgil smiled weakly.


	293. I've got anxiety part two

Virgil was sitting on Roman’s lap as Patton got him a snack and Logan was educating them on age regression. He was cuddling three of the stuffed animals he had, a lion, crow, and frog. He was chewing on the frog’s foot as he watched Patton cut up fruit for him to eat. 

“Here we go!” Patton said sitting the bowl of fruit in front of virgil. 

Roman gently removed the frog foot from Virgil’s mouth making him whine. “It’s ok little bat, it’s snack time.” When Virgil didn’t reach for the fruit Roman picked up a piece and held it to Virgil’s lips. 

Virgil ate it and hummed. “Good!” 

They all laughed causing Virgil to giggle. “Mor?” He asked Roman. 

Roman’s heart melted a little. “As much as you want.” He promised.

“Well as long as it’s not an unhealthy amount.” Logan added.

Patton ran his fingers through Virgil’s hair as Roman fed him. Virgil hummed happily for awhile till suddenly he froze. 

“Anxiety?” Logan asked concerned. 

Virgil pushed himself off of Roman and rapidly backed into the corner of the room, curling in to make himself as small as possible. His breathing quickened as he looked at the three of them terrified. 

“Anxiety.. Breath.” Logan said as Patton and Roman tried to look as unthreatening as possible. 

“You...you weren’t supposed to know.” Virgil whispered, he rubbed at his eyes. He was still half regressed and the stress made him want to drop again but the fear kept him alert. 

Logan crouched down in front of him and gently took his hand. “I imagine you are thinking a number of negative things about yourself and your regression right now.” 

Virgil hesitated before nodding. 

“Listen to me when I say we don’t think any less of you for this and we do everything we can to support you through this.” Logan said firmly leaving no room for argument. Roman and Patton were nodding in the background. Virgil broke down and hugged Logan dropping again. 

“I be small?” He whispered against Logan chest.

Logan hugged him. “You can be small...little bat.” Logan said using the nickname Roman had used. 

Virgil made grabby hands for the other two and they came over and joined the hug. Blissfully unaware of the very hurt Janus watching from the shadows.


	294. I've got anxiety part three

Janus was upset. He thought Virgil would come back when he needed to regress. He knew that he could...right?

The thought that maybe Virgil thought they didn't want him back was upsetting. Janus had to fix this. Even if it meant showing and ruining his plan.

\---

Virgil didn't expect Remus and Janus to show at his door first thing in the morning not for them to look so upset. He winced. "Oh....hi."

Remus hugged him. "Veevee are you ok? You haven't come back! Have you been regressing alone?!?" Remus said rapidfire as he grabbed Virgil's face looking him over.

"Remus. He's alright." Janus said softly putting a hand on Remus' shoulder pulling him back.

Virgil blinked, "You...still care?" 

"Of course we do!" Remus yelled causing the light sides to come see what's going on.

"Wha-what are you two doing here?!?" Roman demanded, he looked at Virgil and saw he was upset. "You two need to back off. You're upsetting Anxiety."

Virgil grabbed Janus' and Remus' arms as they started to move away. "Stay peas?" He said clearly regressed knowing his caregivers were there and didn't hate him.

Remus put an arm around Virgil again. "Of course veevee." He said softly enough to shock Roman and Patton, Logan watched interested.

"I take it you two took care of Anxiety before?" Logan asked as Virgil put his thumb in his mouth and curled against Remus.

"Yes. We didn't expect... What I mean to say is we still want to take care of him." Janus said.

Virgil reached over and tugged on Janus' sleeve. "Yes veevee?"

"They help too?" He asked pointing at the others. Patton beamed. 

Janus nodded.

"Someone is going to be the best taken care of baby." Remus said giving Virgil a small squeeze. 

\---

Virgil sat sitting on Janus' lap with the twins on either side, and then Patton and Logan on the outside. Virgil held Roman and Remus' hands as he nuzzled back against Janus. "Wov you all."

There was sereval 'Love you too's echoed back. Virgil sighed safe, content, and loved.


	295. Puzzling

When Logan was little, Janus was his favorite person. He would follow him everywhere and despite Janus being in middlespace half the time he took to making sure Logan felt like he was involved in everything even if the conversion was a bit more mature. 

“Are you two having fun?” Remus asked as Logan ‘helped’ Janus with a puzzle that was far too big and Logan might have kept trying to put pieces in his mouth. 

Janus gently took the piece from Logan before he could put it in his mouth and snapped it into place. “Yup.” He said shortly.

Logan looked up beaming, “i heping! Ook! Col!” He pointed at the half done puzzle.

“There are colors!” Remus said, sitting down and letting logan crawl into his lap. Janus pouted slightly as Logan moved away from him but pretended he didn’t. He didn’t hide his smile when Remus scooted closer and Logan grabbed his hand. 

“You want some snacks after you finish up?” Remus asked.

“Tsk. I don’t need snacks.” Janus huffed.

“Yeh!” Logan agreed before sticking his tongue out at Remus. 

“Yeah.” Janus agreed smirking as Remus rolled his eyes at the attitude. 

“Fine. No cookies for you.” Remus said.

“Cook?” Logan said, eyes widening. He tightened his grip on Janus’ hand. “Jay Cooks!” 

Janus was about to say he didn’t want any before Logan made those puppy dog eyes at him and he sighed. “Fine. I guess a snack sounds nice.” 

Remus laughed. “Sure thing snippy snake.” 

Logan hissed at the mention of snakes causing Remus to laugh again and Janus to smile behind his hand. 

When Remus went to go get the cookies he overheard Janus and Logan in the living room.

“Wov you!” Logan said.

“Love you too buddy.” Janus said softly. 

Remus peeked in to see Janus holding Logan and decided to linger in the kitchen a little bit longer to give them extra time.


	296. Midnight tea party

Pre accepting anxiety

Virgil felt like something was off. He was on edge and when he heard someone moving around in the living room below he had to go check it out. Just to be sure it was nothing.

He didn't expect to find Roman sitting in the middle of the living room at a small table that was surrounded by stuffed animals and....was he having a tea party?

Virgil was going to sneak out and pretend he never saw this when Roman looked up and saw him and....smiled??

"You wanna join?" Roman asked.

Virgil froze. "You...want me to join?" What kind of trap was this?

"Ahhuh! Sit!" Roman's voice was higher and...younger? Virgil walked over and sat down across from Roman and watched as Roman pouted him a fake cup of tea. He did have real cookies of which he put two in front of Virgil.

"Thanks." Virgil said. 

"Welcome Anxi." Roman said. Virgil froze at the nickname. Roman frowned. "Youz ok?" 

Virgil was sure he was dreaming. "I'm fine." He took a bite of a cookie and listened to Roman ramble on and on about each of the important members if his council. The stuffed animals that surrounded them. Each one had a complex and interesting backstory with enough drama to keep Virgil's attention.

An hour later Virgil helped Roman clean up and take all the stuffed animals back to Roman's room before Roman gave him a quick hug and went to bed.

Virgil smiled on his way back to his room.

\---

The next morning Roman was back to normal and didn't remember a single thing about the previous night. Virgil was disappointed....then it happened again.

And again. 

Was he sleepwalking or something? Virgil wasn't sure but he wasn't going to give up on hanging out with Roman when he was like this. 

"Anxi...you can be my bodyguard. Protec me from everything." Roman said after Virgil jokingly asked where he got in on the council.

Virgil got a little choked up over that. "Ok." 

The weird random tea parties were something that Virgil looked forward to and he even made an effort to be nicer to normal Roman, keeping an eye on him even when he wasn't weird to make sure he didn't get hurt. 

So when Roman reacted so harshly to him, he figured maybe the whole thing was some fucked up mind game. 

\----

Post accepting anxiety

Virgil was on autopilot going downstairs at the slight sound of Roman having his tea party/meeting. He got halfway down the stairs before stopping. 

"Anxi! You late." Roman said firmly trying to not smile.

Virgil took a deep breath. "Roman what is this?"

Roman blinked. "The council meeting."

"Yeah but...why are you acting like this?" Virgil asked sitting down at his normal spot.

"Oh! I'm little!" Roman said.

"Little?" Virgil asked.

"Age re-grrus!" Roman said pouring Virgil his tea and giving him his cookies.

Virgil made a mental note to look up whatever that was. 

"Thanks." Virgil said as he picked up a cookie. 

"Welcome...." Roman froze. "Vir-gil." His voice was choked and not higher pitched. Virgil looked up to see Roman staring at him terrified.

"Roman?"

"You..so that wasn't a dream?" Roman asked clearly normal again.

Virgil frowned."do...do you want me to leave."

"That depends...are you going to ...tell anyone about this?" Roman asked

"Of course not. I'm supposed to protect you remember." Virgil froze at realizing what he just blurted out. 

They stared at each other before Roman beamed. "Thank you Anxi." 

Virgil relaxed. *Of course."

\---

After that Roman invited Virgil to meetings in his room in the daytime. Or when let himself be little around Virgil when it was just them. Virgil was sure to keep his secret and was quick to distract someone if they walked in on Roman being little.


	297. Brown

When they found out that Logan regressed, they were more than a little shocked. Not only did he regress he shrunk down to an infant and had managed to hide the fact that he was completely helpless for hours on end, for months. 

"Why didn't you tell us?" Patton demanded.

Logan flinched. "It's not a big deal. I can handle it on my own." That was a lie. One that Janus was quick to scoff at.

"Right. And how have you been doing that?" He asked arms crossed.

"I wait it out." Logan muttered.

Silence. 

"Well you aren't anymore." Remus said.

"You don't want to take care of me." Logan said.

"We can handle it. Better than you." Roman said bluntly. Logan shrunk in on himself before wordlessly leaving.

He didn't want them to see him regress. He didn't want to regress. But it looked like he wasn't going to be getting out of this.

\---

Remus cooed at baby Logan who was an absolute sweetheart. He didn't cry, hardly fussed, and was genuinely very happy. Currently he was gumming at Remus' fingertips causing the creativity side to feel rather soft and protective and very much ready to murder anyone who so much as looked at his baby the wrong way.

Logan babbled and goo'd around the fingers, his little feet kicking as he giggled. "You are just the sweetest little meatbag aren't cha?"

"Gah...um...bla!" Logan 

"I'll take that as a yes." Remus said picking him up and cradling him to his chest. Logan whined when the fingers were gone but he was quiçkly given a teething ring. He was just so cute! Remus was a bit disappointed that Logan didn't regress often and that he had the share. Sure Roman and Virgil didn't want to take care of him but he still had to let Janus and Patton take their turns with the baby.

Too soon Logan snapped out of his Regression. He wouldn't meet Remus' eyes as he quickly left. Going to hold up in his room till he felt better.

Remus wanted to help him feel better. He felt protective of Logan even when he wasn't regressed and seeing him upset wasn't fun. But he knew Logan wouldn't let him in. He barely agreed to tell them when he was close to dropping so they could keep an eye on him.

Logan was slowly getting more and more attached to his 'caregivers' and he wasn't sure how to feel about that. He didn't want them to only like him for his Regression but on the other hand it felt nice to be taken care of instead of being alone and scared. 

So if he started to let himself regress more no one mentioned it. Or if he stuck around a little bit longer after his Regression sessions no one was waiting for him to leave.


	298. Thomas says part two

Thomas was working on a baby puzzle while Nico worked on an older kid puzzle next to him. Emile and Remy were cooking in the other room. 

Nico sighed as he looked up to see Thomas chewing on a puzzle piece again. "It goes in the slots." He took the piece and popped it into place. "See?" 

Thomas smiled, "puz!" Thomas said before picking up a different piece and chewing on the edge of it. 

Nico rolled his eyes and wandered off to find Thomas' teether. Thomas, distracted, didn't see Nico leave and looked up to find him gone.

He was alone. He whimpered softly looking around. "Nee?" 

When he didn't get a response he teared up. He didn't wanna be alone.

Remy Emile peeked his head in to check on the little and saw Thomas silently crying as he chewing on a puzzle piece. Nico nowhere in sight.

"What's wrong baby?" He asked.

"Nee? Air?" Thomas said.

"Where's nico?" Emile clarified. Thomas nodded as he let Emile pick him up. 

"Let's go find him ok?" Emile said softly. Thomas nodded dropping the puzzle piece.

They found Nico coming back with the teether. "I got it!"

"Got what?" Emile asked causing Nico to hold up the teether.

"The chewing on thing. He keeps eating the puzzle pieces." Nico said holding the teether up to Thomas' mouth. 

Thomas took it and started biting at it. Emile beamed and ruffled Nico's hair  
"That was a really good idea kiddo."

Nico beamed. Thomas yawned and Emile quickly decided it was naptime for the baby while Nico could stay up and keep playing. 

Nico made sure to give Thomas a good sleep well forehead kiss before running off. Thomas fell asleep chewing on the teether.


	299. Sour green apple

Remus loved being taken care of. Roman liked taking care of him. So there should be no problem!

"Why is Remus here?" Patton asked catching Remus in Roman's room. 

"Um... creative discussion." Roman said quickly.

Patton blinked. "Oh….ok?" Patton said confused at the fact Remus was wearing pj's and taping extra stuffed animal arms onto a teddy bear.

"Yep." Roman said before laughing nervously. "So if you'll excuse us."

Roman moved to close the door shut g Patton out. "Just...be careful ok?" Patton said giving him a concerned look before frowning at Remus.

"Of course." Like Remus would hurt him right now. Roman closed the door and took a breath. 

Remus looked up. "Pat not stay?" 

Roman shook his head. "No. It's just us buddy." 

Remus looked disappointed. Remus in little space wanted to be around the others. In his adult headspace he hated the idea of anyone other than his brother knowing about his Regression. So even though Remus was going to pout about it Roman wasn't going to let the others find out.

"What are you making this time?" Roman asked distracting Remus.

Remus turned back to his latest creation. "Oh! It's a multi bear! Got lotta arms!" Remus explained as he grabbed another arm he ripped off some other animal and started taping it on.

After he taped them on and got distracted by the t.v Roman took it and sewed all the arms on for him. Remus looked at it and gasped. "Magic."

Roman laughed and hugged him. "Yeah. It's magic." He tensed as he heard someone walk past his door. He hugged Remus tighter as if that would prevent anyone from walking in and finding out.


	300. Six times Remus got cuddles

One-

Remus was waiting for Logan to finish working, he played quietly on the floor behind him. Building with a mix of legos, magnets, and play-doh.

Something that Logan stared at for a solid minute when he finally turned around. "Well you were quiet so I'll give you that." He said u der his breath.

Remus beamed at him,"Cuddle now?" 

"You sure you don't want to keep playing?" Logan asked. Remus shook his head and made grabby hands.

Logan smiled slightly and picked him up. Remus snuggled up against him as Logan moved both of them to the bed, he moved away from Remus for a second to grab a story book before letting Remus cuddle up to him again. 

"So which story do you want to hear today?" Logan asked.

"Obin hood." Remus said chewing on his shelve.

Logan gave him his chewy before beginning to read.

\--

two

Virgil was watching t.v when Remus toddled in and flopped down in his lap. "Hey buddy. feeling small?" 

"Mmm." Remus said curling up against Virgil's chest. Virgil put his arms around the little and held him as he watched his show, smiling slowly when he realized that Remus had fallen asleep and settled down to sleep himself. Patton came in soon after and put a blanket over them.

\--

Three

Roman chased Remus through the hallway, the little giggling as he escaped the tickle monster. He ran into his room and hid under his sheets. 

"Now where did bitty go?" Roman said peeking in, his question causing Remus to giggle and curl up ore under the blankets.

Roman pulled back the covers and Remus gasped before tugging Roman under the covers with him. "Monter out dere Ro. hid now!" 

Roman nodded, "I see. Well then I guess we should wait then it's gone huh?" Not bring up the fact that he had been the monster until a second ago. 

Remus snuggled against Roman and wasn't in any hurry to leave, then again, neither was Roman. 

\---

four

Janus woke up to Remus shaking his shoulder, he peeked up and was immediately awake when he saw that one, Remus was little, and two, he was crying most likely from a nightmare. "can sleep here pleas?" Remus asked as if afraid that Janus would say no. 

Janus smile softly, "Of course." He lifted the covers and Let Remus crawl into next to him, curling up against him sniffing. 

"You hated me." Remus said explaining his nightmare. 

Janus held him, running his fingers through Remus' hair gently undoing the knots that Remus made while sleeping. "I could never hate you." 

"Premiss?" Remus asked.

Janus kissed his forehead. "I promise." 

Remus snuggled closer and Janus hummed softly till the little felt safe enough to fall back asleep.

\---

Five

Patton woke up early to find Remus downstairs, in the dark, regressed, and playing with the wires to the t.v. "Good morning bitty!" 

Remus looked up and beamed, abandoning the wire he was chewing on and rushing over to give Patton a hug. "Mornin!" 

"Did you sleep well?" Patton asked.

"Ahuh! Dee helpped me!" Remus said, "Got da bad deam an he make go way." 

"I'm glad he was able to help!" Patton said. 

"Mmm still little set thou." Remus said pulling Patton over to the couch. 

"Oh?" Patton asked sitting down and letting Remus curling up against him. 

"Yep. needs cuddles to fixs it." Remus said seriously.

Patton held back his laughter. "Of course bitty! You can have cuddles aaaany time you want!" He booped Remus' nose.

Remus giggled and hummed content. Patton settled down for a cuddle session. Making breakfast could wait.

\---

Six

Thomas didn't expect to find Remus just sitting on the couch but it was a better surprise then Remus just jumping out at him.

Thomas made his way over and when he sat down Remus curled up against him. "feeling bitty today?" 

"Mmm cuddle me?" Remus asked.

Thomas held on to him. "Of course. Do you want a snack too?" Thomas asked knowing that cuddle time could last awhile.

"Apple? an juice? in sippy?" Remus asked.

Thomas smiled and ruffled Remus' hair putting the little at ease before getting enough apple slices for the both of them. Remus curled up against him again his he turned on the t.v. Remus slowly nibbled on his apple slices as Thomas held him with one arm. He drifted off to sleep feeling loved and safe.


	301. Call me baby

Virgil had no idea what he was doing but he couldn't leave, Patton was in no state to take care of himself. Patton regressed to an infant and clearly needed someone to watch him, Virgil found out by accident and wanted to get someone else to watch him but Patton asked him not to tell anyone.

He also asked for Virgil to forget about it and just let him handle it, but by the state the little was in he couldn't handle it on his own. He was crying silently as he sucked on his thumb and stared at Virgil. 

Virgil picked up one of the stuffies animals from Patton's bed and held it out to him. Patton took it and babbled a little.

"There's a happy baby." Virgil said awkward. 

Patton giggled and Virgil grabbed a tissue to wipe off the snot and tears from the little's face. Patton giggled more at that, and something in Virgil relaxed a little bit. He could handle this. 

He hesitated before moving Patton so he was sitting in his lap. The little curling up against him babbling around his thumb. He needed a pacifier but Virgil couldn't see one and he didn't want to summon one on the off chance he messed it up. Would he even like one? Sucking on his thumb can't hurt him that much right? 

Virgil's thoughts were interuppted by a yawn from the little who's eyes were droopy. 

"Naptime?" Virgil asked softly. Patton leaned his head against Virgil and closed his eyes. 

Not what Virgil expected but he wasn't upset about it.

\---

Patton woke up to Virgil rubbing his back. He jolted and scrambled out of Virgil's lap and onto the floor. He looked around wildly before tucking his knees to his chest and ducking his head. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Virgil asked not moving toward patton in case he scared him.

"I'm supposed to take care of you, not...the other way around." Patton said.

Virgil frowned. "Pat...you need to be taken care of too. You can't push yourself to take care of everyone all the time."

"But... it's my job."

"And we all need breaks sometimes." Virgil said moving so he was sitting next to him. 

Patton hesitated before leaning his head on Virgil's shoulder. "You aren't....freaked out?"

"No." Virgil said honestly. "And I'm here for you." 

Patton sniffed. "Thank you." 

Virgil put an arm around Patton's shoulders and held him till he felt better.


	302. Midnight blue

Logan was up working and it was nearly midnight. There was a knock on his door. He looked up confused before walking over and opened the door just for Janus and Remus to walk in.

"Still working?" Janus asked.

".....no." Logan said, which was technically true since he had stopped to get the door.

Janus raised an eyebrow and Logan shifted feeling a bit small. "I was gonna stop soon."

"Tsk. You know you were suppose to stop two hours ago." Remus said firmly.

Logan looked down. "Sorry." He said dropping. 

Remus pulled him into a hug, "we'll work on it."

"Ready to get ready for bed?" Janus asked. Logan nodded.

They got him dressed in PJs and got him to brush his teeth. Remus got him a sippy of water in case he got thirsty and Janus tucked him in. 

Remus and Janus sat down on either side of him as Logan laid in bed. "Stay?" He asked.

Remus plopped down, "hoping you'd ask!" He said snuggling up to Logan making him giggle. Janus laid down more carefully. 

"Sorry." Logan said again.

"You just want to make sure everything gets done. Nothing wrong with that." Janus said. "But you need to take care of yourself too."

"And we'll be here to remind you." Remus said.

Logan smiled. "Thank you."

"Of course."


	303. Sour green apple turn sweet

To say Roman was shocked was an understatement. He watched, mouth a gap as Virgil was taking care of Regressed Remus like he did it all the time. 

"What? How? Since when have you known?" Roman sputtered causing Virgil's head to snap up to look at him. 

"You know too?" Virgil blinked. 

The only one not shocked was Remus who made grabby hands at his brother. Roman walked over and picked Remus up. "Mmm veevee an Ro!" 

".... yeah." Virgil said feeling slightly betrayed that Remus seemed to pick Roman over his caregiver. "So how do you know?"

"Remus told me." Roman said. "I've been taking care of him for months." 

Virgil frowned. That would explain why Remus didn't show up as much. "And he never mentioned me?"

"Of course not! I'm the only person.....I thought I was the only person who knew." Roman said.

"Oh.." Virgil stared at Remus. Remus didn't remember that Virgil took care of him when he was big. He knew that. So maybe it shouldn't have hurt that he went to someone for help. 

But it did. Virgil had taken care of him for years and he just....picked someone else.

Remus seemed to pick up that Virgil was upset and grabbed his hand. Virgil squeezed the little's hand. He wanted to leave, go deal with his feelings but he couldn't. Not when Remus was still little, even if Roman was there for him.

"Well it's good to have help." Roman said relieved. "You have no idea how often I've wanted someone else to know."

Virgil nodded.he understood that. 

\----

Remus was shocked that Virgil not only knew but had been taking care of him. "That wasn't my imagination?" 

Virgil and Roman stared at him. "What?"

Remus shifted, "I mean... I didn't think you'd like me enough to do that." 

Virgil hugged him. "Of course I do dumbass."

Remus laughed and hugged Virgil tightly. 

"Wait...who takes care of me now?" Remus asked.

"Both?" Virgil asked.

"Both." Roman agreed.

Remus beamed. "Both is good." He pulled Virgil and Roman into a group hug.


	304. Breathe for me

Logan didn't want to swim, rather he didn't know how to swim. And despise the fact that the water in the imagination was breathable he still wasn't going in lake. Instead he watched from the shoreline. This was a Regression day and Remus, Roman, and Virgil were little while Logan was in teenspace. 

Since he didn't want to swim, he helped Janus and Patton by watching over Remus as he made a sandcastle. Remus struggled to get the sand to work the way he wanted but was too stubborn to accept help, so all Logan to do was make sure he didn't get too upset or start eating the sand.

It was about noon when things went bad. 

Roman and Virgil keep calling for Logan to join them in the water while Janus and Patton set up lunch on a picnic table further up the beach. Still within ear shot.

Logan sighed, "Roman I said no!" Logan said crossing his arms staring at Roman, he didn't notice Virgil sneak up behind him and push him into the water.

As soon as he hit the water he panicked and Dropped so he was littler. He forgot that the water was breathable and he wasn't in any danger, he gasped and sputtered as Roman pulled him above the water. 

"Come on it's not that deep." Roman said rolling his eyes at the dramatics.

Logan startled both Virgil and Roman by crying. "No em! No lic it!" He wailed.

That got the attention of the caregivers who rushed over to find a guilty looking Virgil and Roman pulling a soaked Logan onto the beach.

"What happened?" Janus demanded grabbing a towel and drying off Logan's face, knowing that he hated having his face wet.

"In da wader. No lic it!" Logan crying curling up against Janus.

Patton narrowed his eyes when Virgil shifted and avoided his gaze. "How might Logan have ended up in the water?"

"I...pushed him in." Virgil muttered. "But he wouldn't play with us!" 

"And that is his choice." Janus said firmly as he continued to gently dry off the little. 

"Sorry." Virgil said. 

"You two aren't allowed back in the water today." Patton said firmly. 

"Ok." They both said dejected, but didn't argue. Both feeling too guilty. 

Logan stayed with Janus for the rest of the afternoon, and let Virgil and Roman find him shells as apologies for earlier. By the time they were ready to go, Logan had a pile of shells and had completely forgotten about the reason he was so small at the moment.


	305. Baking power

Janus was bouncing at the idea that he wasn't just going to get cookies, he was going to help make cookies!

Patton laughed a little as Janus put his apron on backwards, he helped him so the words 'little chef' were visible.

"Ready to bake some cookies?" Patton asked. 

Janus nodded excited, "yeah! And we put da chips in dem!"

"We'll put the chocolate chips in them." Patton promised.

Janus helped stir as Patton poured in the ingredients. If they ate a bit of cookie dough while scooping it out on the baking pan that was no one's business but their own. 

Patton and Janus played go fish while they baked, and then cooled enough to eat. 

By the time that they sat down with their plate of cookies and with their glasses if milk, Janus was getting sleeping. He leaned on Patton while nibbling on a cookie, half asleep.

Patton let him finish his cookie before taking him to bed and tucking him in. "Thanks chu for baking"

"You're welcome kiddo." Patton said softly before closing the bedroom door leaving the little to nap.

\----

Bonus

"Remus no!" Patton said as he walked in to find Remus shoving cookies in his mouth, his cheek puffed out from the amount of cookies he had already gotten in his mouth. He looked up at Patton before grabbing the rest of the tray and bolting out of the room, follow by Patton.


	306. Green hearts

You would expect Roman to be the one super excited about Valentine's day, and he was but he wasn't nearly as excited as Remus when he was Regressed. 

The five year old woke up hours before everyone else and put up multicolored hearts and streamers and hid Valentine cards around for everyone to find and made enedible cupcakes.

The others came down to a bouncy child who was cutting out green hearts to add to the the pile of, yellow, red, purple, and blue that he was going to dump on people when they walked in.

"Wait you too soon!" Remus said quickly grabbing a the hearts and throwing them at them. "Happy valtin day!" 

Laughter. "Happy Valentine's day bitty." Patton said giving the little a hug.

"You made all of these?" Janus asked looking around at the covered living room. 

"Ahhuh!" Remus said. He paused. "You like it?" He asked hesitant.

"It's amazing!" Roman said picking Remus up causing the little to giggle.

"You did great." Virgil said trying to stay Impartial and failing.

Logan was hiding a smile as he read a misspelled card that Remus made. 

Roman helped Patton make some cupcakes that could be eaten while the others distracted Remus, the cupcakes looked the same and Remus was none the wiser, while no one got poisoned. 

In the end they had a great day and Remus went to bed very proud of himself.


	307. Spiders over for tea

Virgil accendently lost a few of his pet spiders and had been looking for them for days. He had no idea where they managed to ran off to, at least until he heard Patton scream.

He ran to where the scream came from, Remus' room and found Patton backed into a corner away from the Duke and the spiders all of whom were having a tea party.

Remus was clearly little and having a blast with his new spider friends. Virgil sighed in relief that nothing super bad was happening. 

"Pat do you want to leav-"

"Yes!" Patton bolted out of the room. 

Remus looked up, " not stay for tea?"

Virgil shook his head and sat down. "No but I can." Remus beamed and poured him a cup.

Remus ended up keeping the spiders since he had taken such good care of them while they were missing.


	308. Bleed for my mistakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING SELF HARM

Roman dropped as soon as he left, he knew he shouldn’t have said what he did about not wanting to be like Remus. He just wanted to go let Remus take care of him and show that he didn’t mean what he said. So when he walked in with his teddy bear he didn’t expect Remus to turn and yell at him.

“Something you don’t want to be huh?” Remus said pissed off, too angry to notice the teddy bear in Roman’s grip or his slightly confused expression. 

“I-” 

“I don’t want to hear it!” Remus yelled, “just get out of here!” Roman teared up and dropped the bear and ran. 

Remus didn’t expect that. He expected Roman to scoff and fight back. He didn’t...His eyes fell on the bear and a pit formed in his stomach. He hadn’t yelled at adult Roman, he had yelled at Little Roman. 

Shit!

By the time he got to Roman’s door with the bear it was already closed and locked. He knocked a few times and then just rose up, privacy be damned. 

Roman sat on the edge of his bed, his sleeves rolled up, blood dripping from the multitude of cuts. HIs hand shook as tears poured down his face, he pressed the razor blade to his skin again. 

He deserved this. 

Remus grabbed his wrist stopping him from harming himself further. “Stop..You can’t..”

Roman struggled against his grip. “I deserve this.” 

Remus was about to argue that he didn’t when Roman banished him from the room and locked him out. 

Remus pounded on the door, the teddy bear still in his grip, blood on it’s soft fur.

\---

Roman avoided Remus after that, and Little him was down right terrified of his caregiver. 

Remus kept trying to talk to him only to get a weak excuse that Roman needed to be elsewhere.

Remus managed to corner Roman, “Stop running!” He snapped.

Roman dropped and whimpered hugging himself and shaking. Remus reached forward to comfort him only for Roman to flinch away. 

“I’m...I’m not going to hurt you.” Remus said his heart was breaking a little.

Roman looked up at him teary and surprised, “You not?” 

Remus softly hugged him, “I’d never hurt you.”

“But I did bad thing.” Roman whispered. Remus’ hold tightened. 

“Still not going to hurt you.” Remus promised. Roman relaxed a bit.

“I’m sorry.” Roman said hiding his face.

“I know.” Remus said softly. “It’s ok now. I’ve got you.” 

Roman sniffed. “Ok.” 

It would be ok.


	309. gold bedtime

Janus loved getting tucked in. The other sides would switch out who was tucking him in and each one had a different way of doing it. 

Patton would give him a snack and make sure he had his stuffed animals all settled around him. He's sing him a song or three before turning on his nightlight and leaving the door slightly open. 

Logan would read him a bedtime story until he fell asleep and would make sure he had a glass of water on his nightstand in case he got thirsty in the night.

Roman would make a game out of getting ready for bed and continue the same adventure story that he had been telling him for months. Every night ending on a happy part of the story without really ending it.

Remus would let Janus stay up as late as he wanted as the two talked until Janus passed out curled up in Remus' arms and more often than not woke up in them in the morning.

Virgil made sure to get Janus everything he could need in the middle of the night and tell him more than once to come get him or someone if he needed anything or had a nightmare, and was two blankets enough? are you sure? ok. 

Janus loved getting tucked in.


	310. I'll make time, I promise

“But you promised!” Remus said little and a bit hurt that Logan was too busy to play with him like he had promised that morning he would. He had been waiting all day!

Logan didn’t even look up, “We can play tomorrow.” 

Remus’ didn’t argue, his shoulders sagged and he turned and walked away. Logan always said tomorrow but it was never tomorrow. It was always work time.

He went to see if Virgil would play with him.

“Not right now.” Virgil said after a half second of thought. He wasn’t even working he was just listening to stuff. Remus huffed.

Janus might-

“I’ve got a headache and can not stand your screaming at the moment.” Janus snapped. Normally this wouldn’t be upsetting to Remus but he was small so he felt bad. 

“I...could be quiet?” Remus whispered to prove his point. Either Janus didn’t hear him or didn’t care but he just closed the door.

Remus wandered off, his vision blurred with tears. He ran into someone.

“Remus what are you...why are you crying?” Roman’s voice softened as he noticed that Remus was both upset and little.

“No one wants play with me.” He sniffed. 

Roman surprised Remus by picking him up and throwing him over his shoulder. “Well we’ll have to fix that won’t we!” 

Remus giggled as he was carried into his room and dropped onto his bed bouncing a bit. “Throw me gin!” Remus said reaching for Roman.

Roman laughed and ruffled Remus’ hair. “If you want to bounce we can use a trampoline.” 

Remus’ face lit up at the mention of a trampoline. Roman snapped his fingers and the furniture was gone and the floor was replaced by a trampoline. Remus jumped, “yes yes yes!” 

Roman laughed jumping with him falling into his own headspace, while older, still enjoyed the activity. 

They jumped around for nearly two hours before they ended up laying down staring at the ceiling together. Remus sniffed and Roman looked over concerned.

“Lo an Vee an Jan don’t got time for me anymore.” He said.

Roman had half mind to go fight them for making Remus cry but instead he just pulled his brother into a hug. “I’ll always have time for you.” 

“Promise?” Remus asked so scared that Roman would say no, or worse that he would say yes and not mean it. 

“Promise.” Roman said firmly. Roman made time for Remus every single time he showed up, regressed or not. If he was busy he would let Remus help him or would talk to him while he worked. 

Logan apologised for always being busy, and Remus told him that while he understood he really couldn’t have Logan be his caregiver anymore. Logan dejected agreed. 

Virgil and Janus apologised for brushing him off. Remus tried to not hold it against them.

After a few months he showed up to Roman’s room and caught him in the middle of setting up a regressed movie night. Snacks, coloring since neither of them liked just watching the movies and stuffed animals. 

Roman smiled at him, “I’m almost done set-” Remus tackled him in a hug. “What’s that for?”

“Thank you.” Remus said hugging him tightly and being delighted when Roman hugged him back.

“Of course.” Roman said, “I’ll always make time for you. I promised didn’t I?” 

Remus laughed, “Ok! Movie time!” He said pushing himself up and picking out a coloring page.

Roman shook his head fondly.


	311. Cherry sour

Roman was sleeping, and having a nightmare...again. He was back with his old caregiver and in time out which always lasted forever. Sometimes it would last until he wasn’t regressed anymore and could just leave on his own. Other times….   
He tossed and turned in his sleep, he didn’t mean to spill his juice but he didn’t have a sippy cup and he was clumsy when he was little. “Please? I promise be better!” 

“NO! Stay there!” 

He started crying. 

“Buddy...wake up.” Roman jolted wake at the feeling of someone shaking his shoulder. Thomas looked at him concerned. 

Roman whimpered and hugged himself. Thomas opened his arms and Roman curled up against his caregiver. “Sorry.” 

“You don’t need to apologize for having a nightmare bud.” Thomas reminded him softly.

“I was bad.” Roman said.

“He told you that?” Thomas couldn’t believe that Roman ever was bad, sure he made mistakes but he was little that was bound to happen. Roman nodded. “Well you aren’t bad.”

Roman grabbed the front of Thoams’ shirt. “Ok.” He whispered.

Thomas scooted them over so He was laying down still holding the scared Little. “It’s ok. I’m here and I’m not going to leave you. He isn’t coming back.” 

Roman took a breath. He was safe. 

He was safe.


	312. nitmare

Remus woke up from a nightmare regressed, He started crying and ran from his room into Roman’s. (Look their rooms are connected in this) He jumped on the bed waking his brother up. 

“Wha-what’s going on?” Roman asked looking around wildly before noticing Remus who quickly tackled him in a hug. 

Remus went nonverbal when he regressed, so he just shook his head and hid his face against Roman’s chest.

Roman hugged, “Hey, It’s ok. Whatever it is can’t get you in here ok?” 

Remus nodded, sticking his thumb in his mouth. Roman pulled the paci he keep in his nightstand out and handed it to Remus. “There we go. That’s better.” 

Remus giggled and Roman kissed the top of his head. “Ready to try and sleep some more?”

Remus nodded slowly. Roman moved so they were laying down. “I’m gonna be right here.” Roman promised before yawning. 

Remus snuggled up to him. Roman stayed awake until he was sure that Remus had fallen asleep again.

He woke up to whimpering, Remus was crying in his sleep. Roman tightened his grip on his brother before humming softly. Remus’ whimpering quieted until it stopped, slipping into a more peaceful sleep.

The next time Roman woke up, Remus was gone and there was a thank you note on the bed. Sure it was dick shaped but it’s the thought that counts.


	313. Yellow and Purple with a bit of green

(Before Accepting Anxiety) 

Janus was having a nightmare. He was curled up and whimpering softly. Hiding under the covers too scared to cry out for help. He heard something move in his room, felt the blankets move, before he could scream a voice spoke.

“Nitmare.” Virgil muttered clearly little as well. Janus relaxed as he took in the fact that it wasn’t a monster, just Virgil. 

He pulled Virgil into a hug to stop him from crying. “It’s...It’s ok.” Janus said trying and failing to sound big. “Nofing can get us if we under da banket.” 

Virgil nodded against Janus’ chest. They laid there in the dark, barely breathing trying to make no noise. 

Then the lights flickered on. They peeked out of the blankets towards Remus who was standing in the doorway. He had a stuffed squid under one arm and was rubbing his eyes with the other. 

“You didn’t invite me too!” He said grumpy before yawning.

Janus sat up, braver now that the light was on and he could clearly see that there were no nightmares. “You can join too.” 

Remus beamed at that and climbed into bed leaving the light on for them to fall asleep more easily. 

Janus put one arms around Remus, the other still around Virgil. They were together and safe. Like they should be.

\---

(After accepting anxiety.) 

Virgil was having a nightmare. It scared him enough that he regressed. He was outside Janus’ door before thinking that maybe Janus wouldn’t want him there. He hesitated before knocking.

“Dee?” He said quietly not wanting to be too loud.

There was rustling and the door opened. Janus’ face flashed through several emotions before settling on concern as he took in the fact that Virgil was regressed. “Nightmare?” He asked quietly.

Virgil nodded. “Come on.” Janus said, grabbing Virgil’s hand and leading him to the bed. Virgil was surprised that Remus was also there having had a nightmare and regressed as well. Remus looked at Virgil before huffing and pulling him into the center of the bed with him. 

They all laid down with Virgil in the middle. Safe from anything that could get him. “Thanks chu.” Virgil whispered.

“We aren’t going to make you handle a bad night alone.” Janus said grabbing Virgil’s hand.

“Yeh. we not that mean.” Remus said putting an arm around Virgil. 

Virgil sniffed, and smiled. “Mmm!” 

“Now...let’s get some sleep.” Janus said softly. 

It didn’t take long for them to all fall sleep. Safe in the knowledge that the others were there and everything was ok.

\----

(After dealing with intrusive thoughts) 

Remus didn’t want to bother anyone but he couldn’t sleep and he was small. So he got up and went to Janus’ room only to find that he wasn’t there. 

He wandered off to Virgil’s room and found both of them cuddle up together, Janus little. “You didn’t invite me?” He asked a bit hurt. 

Virgil sat up and patted the bed between him and Janus. Remus was quick to crawl in between them. “You’re always invited.” Virgil said.

“Ya. needs you too you know!” Janus said hugging him. 

Remus laughed. “Ok.” 

They fell asleep. 

Together.

Safe.


	314. moonlight yellow

Janus was a bit of a night owl. He spent a lot of his time up at night. Often alone due to the fact that everyone else was normally asleep. So it made sense that he would regress at night when he felt alone and safe enough to do so. It was almost one in the morning and he was sitting up in bed playing with stuffed animals, the only light coming from his nightlight. 

He was normally alone, but tonight he felt...lonely. He hesitated before slowly tipping toeing out of his room and to Patton’s room in the hopes that he would be too upset at being woken up. 

“Patn?” Janus asked shaking Patton’s shoulder slightly. Patton blinked awake.

“Hey kiddo. What do you need?” Patton asked yawning. 

“Can...I stay in here for a bit?” Janus asked. Patton looked him over with an odd expression on his face before nodding and scooting over so Janus could climb into bed as well. Janus curled up against Patton and started playing with his fingers.

“Not sleepy?” Patton asked. 

Janus shook his head. “It’s ok. You sleep.” 

Patton frowned at that. “I don’t want you to be alone.”

“You’ll be here right?” Janus asked slightly panicked that Patton was leaving. 

“I will.” Patton quickly reassured him. “How about I tell you a story?” 

Janus felt guilty. He didn’t mean to make Patton stay awake because of him. But by the time Patton was half way through the story Janus had completely forgotten about his guilt. Laying there listening as his thumb inched closer to his mouth. 

Patton paused the story to grab a Pacifier from the nightstand drawer and give it to the regressor. Janus didn’t think to question why Patton had it before popping it in his mouth and slowly drifting off to sleep.

In the morning he woke up and snuck out of the room while Patton was still asleep, hoping that Patton would brush the event off as a weird dream. Instead Patton cornered him that afternoon. 

“So you regress too huh?” Patton asked softly. 

“I have no Idea what…..too?” Janus said his brain was catching up to what Patton said. 

Patton smiled. “I thought I was the only one! This is great!” 

Janus was sweep into a hug too shocked to fight against it. 

He wasn’t as alone after that.


	315. Ohana

"Why does it sound like you're saying goodbye?" Remus asked making Janus pause in the middle of his explanation of what happened. Janus shifted uncomfortable, not meeting Remus' gaze.

"I'll visit. I'm not....I'm not like Virgil." Janus said.

Remus' heart sunk. "But you're still leaving. You're leaving just like everyone else did!" Remus yelled standing.

"Remus wait it's not..." Janus said halfway reaching for him.

Remus looked at him. Waiting for Janus to say that he was staying. 

He didn't.

Remus went to his room, dropping as soon as he was safely inside. He cried himself to sleep. 

When he came out Janus was gone. 

\---

He didn't expect Patton of all people to come check on him. For him to care that much. "Are you ok?"

Remus looked at him, of course he wasn't ok! "Of course I am! I don't need friends." His voice broke on the last word.

Patton offered a hug and Remus quickly took it. Regressing as soon as he was being held again. Shrinking down to the size of a five year old to match his mental state. "Why does everyone leave me?" 

Patton felt guilty for that. "Come on. Let's get you into some comforting clothes and then we can go up for dinner ok?"

Remus nodded. Patton helped him into some ocean themed pj's and let him grab a stuffed shark to take with him. 

Janus took a step towards him as soon as he walked in only making Remus hide behind Patton. Janus stopped.

Remus looked at the ground aware of everyone's eyes on him. "Hi." 

"I figure since Remus has been feeling a bit left out," Virgil, Janus and Roman looked awkward at that. "We could have a sleepover!" Logan was about to protest before he saw Remus' face light up at the idea.

\---

Remus sat cuddled between Logan and Patton watching lilo and stitch. He didn't notice the glances the other three kept aiming at him. Not the guilt in their expressions.

"Ohana means family." Remus whispered along with the movie. "Family mean no one gets left....behind." 

He looked down at his stuffed shark quiet, everyone looking at him with varying degrees of concern or guilt. 

He was quiet for a long time before hugging the shark. "I want a family." He muttered.

"You do have family kiddo." Patton said.

"No. Cuz everyone leaves. Family not suppose to do that." Remus said tearing up. He slid off the couch. "I'm gonna go." 

"Remus wait!" Roman said moving to block his brother's exit. "I'm sorry."

Remus sniffed and rubbed at his eyes. "Doesn't matter." 

"It does." Janus said. "We were all do focused on our own wants that we...forgot about you." 

"I never meant to hurt you." Virgil said hands in his pockets. 

Remus looked at them. "So....you not leave again?"

Roman hugged him. "No one's leaving." Roman picked Remus up causing him to giggle. 

"Really?" He asked excited. 

"Really." Roman promised.

"You're not going to be alone anymore." Virgil said.

"We're family." Janus added.

Remus beamed.


	316. Cat eye green/yellow

Virgil might have left but he didn't really leave. He still showed up once a week to take care of Remus and Janus and let them regress, and he was always there if something happened.

So as soon as he stepped into the dark common room he was tackled to the ground by two kids. "Veevee!" Remus yelled hugging the caregiver as Janus just beamed having gone mostly nonverbal.

"I guess you two are feeling extra small today huh?" Virgil asked sitting up holding the five year old and toddler. 

"No! I'm big!" Remus protested. 

Virgil nodded. "Oh my mistake. You are big aren't you?"

"Yeah!" Remus yelled.

Janus tugged on Virgil's hair to get his attention. "What's up baby slither?" He asked.

Janus giggled at the nickname. He pointed at him mouth. "Ah!"

Virgil turned to Remus. "Did you two have breakfast this morning?"

Remus looked down. "No... too little." 

Virgil felt guilty that he hadn't shown up earlier then. He stood up holding both of them. "Well, I think it's time for chocolate chip.pancakes then!'

Remus gasped as Janus clapped excited. Virgil got them both set at the table with some color and juice while they waited for him to finish cooking. 

"Hert!" Janus said happily as he saw the heart shaped pancakes for him. 

"Knife!" Remus said equally excited at his knife shaped pancakes.

Remus started shoving pancake into his mouth while Virgil cut up Janus' for him. 

After breakfast/lunch, Virgil set up some foam building blocks and turned on the t.v. Remus played with the blocks while Janus cuddled and watched t.v with Virgil. They spent all afternoon together, Janus falling asleep and taking a nap on Virgil before he woke up just before dinner no longer regressed. It didn't take long after that for Remus to snap out of it too. Virgil cleaned up slowly, reluctant to leave. Janus and Remus shared a look.

"Virgil?" Janus asked.

Virgil jumped slightly. "Oh...right yeah. No sorry I'll get out of your way." 

"Actually would you like to stay for dinner?" Janus asked. Virgil stared at him.

"You...want me to stay?" Virgil asked hopefully. Remus hugged him. 

"Of course. You're welcome to stay not just when we're regressed you know." Janus said smoothly. 

Virgil smiled. "Ok." 

Dinner was relaxed and Remus and Virgil poked fun at each other just like they use to. Janus smiled, glad that Virgil agreed to stay. 

There were more nights like that, where Virgil stuck around after taking care of them.


	317. Better this way 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I could have sworn I wrote this before but I can't find it so I guess not? Anyway. This is a sequel to chapter 197 or something around there.

Roman was tearing up as Virgil insulted him again. Patton didn't do anything. He wanted to say something but then Patton would be mad at him and yell at him and.

And...

Janus quickly moved over to the little as he burst out crying, noting that Patton was making sure that Virgil was ok before checking on the one who was upset. If he wasn't pissed off before he was now. 

"What are you doing?" Patton asked sharply. 

"Doing your job better than you." Janus shot back before continuing to comfort Roman. Patton sputtered. He grabbed Janus' arm and tugged him away from Roman who whimpered before hunching in on himself under Patton's glare. Patton froze as he saw Roman scared of him. 

Janus ripped his arm from Patton's grip and moved over to put an arm around Roman's shoulder. He quickly moving Roman from the room away from Virgil and his past caregiver. 

They got to Roman's room before Patton caught up to them and grabbed Roman's arm causing the little whimper and flinch. Patton jerked his hand back. "Roman I-"

"Save it!" Janus hissed, "Your actions have already spoken for you!" He moved Roman into his room before turning to face Patton.

"You aren't his caregiver!" Patton snapped.

"I am actually." Janus said, "You gave up the role awhile ago." 

"I...I had to make sure Virgil-"

"What? Got a free pass to bully Roman?" Janus snapped. Patton couldn't dispute that. Janus shook his head. "Do yourself a favor and stay away from Roman." 

"Or what?" Patton asked.

"Or you'll regret it." Janus said causing Patton to shiver and take a step back. 

Janus stepped into Roman's room and found the little curled up on his bed hugging the stuffed lion that Janus gave him. Janus sat down on the bed next to him and Roman hugged him tightly. Janus put his arms around him. "It's ok now. No one is going to hurt you again." 

"thank you." roman whispered.

Janus gave him a squeeze. "Of course. You deserve it." 

\---

Patton wrote an apology to Roman. He made Virgil write one too. Janus delivered them to him. Roman sat on his bed rereading them for a long time. 

"You don't have to forgive them." Janus said softly.

"I...I want to give them a shot." Roman said after a long time. Janus nodded and put an arm around Roman's shoulders. 

"I'll be there." Janus promised. 

Roman smiled. "Thank you." 

It was better this way.


	318. Hold me for a moment.

No one expected Logan to regress. Sure Patton and Roman did. But he didn’t. He was the logical side, not...he didn’t need to regress. At least that’s what he told himself.

Janus noticed how often Logan lied to himself. That he didn’t need or want to Regress. That he was fine. That he didn’t feel anything. That he was fine taking care of Patton and Roman and not letting himself be little too.

So after Logan had Tucked Roman and Patton into their beds and was heading back to his room Janus caught him. “Someone is tired.” 

“Yes well. It’s been a long day.” Logan said, rubbing his eyes. 

Janus grabbed one of Logan’s hands. “Someone needs to take some time for himself.” He said softly.

Logan’s expression turned to confusion before looking at Janus weary. “Do you regress as well?” 

Janus blinked in surprise at the question. “N-no?” 

“It’s fine if you do. I can watch you if you do.” Logan said steeling himself to take care of another little. 

“You stole my line.” Janus muttered.

Logan blinked. “What?” 

Janus sighed and pulled Logan into a hug. “You need to let yourself be little sometimes too.” 

“I….I don’t…” Logan said half regressed. 

Janus rocked him side to side and Logan held on to him as he teared up, hiding his face in Janus’ shoulder as he cried. “Shhh. It’s ok. You can let it out.”

“I got-gotta be big.” Logan sobbed.

“Not right now.” Janus promised. “Right now we just focus on what you want ok?” 

Logan sniffed and nodded. “Ok.” He said weakly.

“What do you want?” Janus asked.

“Hold me for a bit?” Logan asked. 

Janus picked Logan up and walked to Logan’s room. He settled on them on the bed so Logan could cuddle up to him more comfortably than in the hallway. “Anytime.” Janus said.

Logan smiled at him as he was held. Safe and being taken care of for the first of many times.


	319. At least they had each other part one.

Roman dropped in the middle of a conversion with Virgil, stuttering and showing that he was regressed. 

“Can’t you just stop this?” Virgil snapped at a regressed Roman. “It’s getting annoying!” 

“I..I don’t..” Roman stuttered flinching. 

“Roman if you want to Regress you should do it where it isn’t an inconvenience to others.” Logan said without looking up. 

Roman didn’t mean to regress. It just happened he had no control over it! He ran off, Virgil scoffing behind him. “Just stop, it’d be easier.” 

Remus looked up as Roman entered his room. They didn’t know why, but they always regressed at the same time. So Remus was little as well. Just bigger than Roman by a couple years. 

“What’s wrong?” Remus asked as Roman cried. 

“Ve-virgil.” Roman stuttered. Remus hugged him tightly. “He...He said dat...dat I can’t...can’t be little… cuz..cuz..cuz annoyin!” 

Remus scowled, “That’s stupid!” 

“I can’t...can’t con...contoll it!” Roman sobbed. 

“Yeah.” Remus said. He was gonna have to fight Virgil later, right now he had to make sure Roman was doing better. 

He dragged him over to his bed and tucked him in with a bunch of stuffed animals. He was going to go fight Virgil but Roman grabbed his arm, “Stay?” 

Remus curled up next to Roman. “Ok.” 

There was a long silence as they both got lost in their own thoughts. Remus thinking about how to get back at Virgil and Roman wondering why they hated him so much. 

“Why are day….day so mean?” Roman whispered. 

Remus hugged him. “I don’t know.” 

At least they had each other.


	320. Candy apple red

Logan wasn’t feeling well, seeing as he had eaten too much jam. Feeling icky, he regressed. Normally he would go to someone to help but the only person not busy was Roman who was also regressed. Roman might have been older than him at the moment but he was still regressed. Still he didn’t feel good, so with no other choice he went to Roman’s room. 

“Hi!” Roman said as Logan stepped him beaming before he took in how Logan was standing slightly curled around himself and frowned. “You ok?” 

Logan shook his head. “I...my tummy hurts.” He whimpered. Roman jumped up and lead Logan to his bed. 

“Let’s get you feeling better.” Roman said getting Logan into bed and giving him a teddy bear to cuddle while Roman went to go get medicine. 

Logan snuggled up as he hugged the teddy bear, Roman came back with some medicine that he had carefully measured out per the instructions. Logan took it before sticking his tongue out in disgust. “Ick.” 

Roman patted his head and gave him a water bottle. “I know. But it’ll help.” He promised as   
He helped Logan drink some water to get the taste out of his mouth. 

“Cuddle?” Logan asked shyly. Roman beamed and curled in bed next to Logan and hugged him. 

“You wanna sleep? It’ll help.” Roman said.

Logan snuggled against Roman and let himself fall asleep as the medicine kicked in. Roman fell asleep too, holding Logan the whole time.


	321. Glitter snake returns

Virgil didn't expect to be covered in neon pink glitter, and definitely by Janus and most surprisingly Logan. Both of whom were little and giggling as they looked at his shocked face.

"What...you...what?" He sputtered. Glitter falling from him to the floor. 

Janus and Logan laughed harder before running off. 

\---

Remus stepped out of his room to a face full of glitter. He blinked as he noticed it was cherry flavored. He heard Janus and Logan giggling and smiled. "Oh someones found the glitter huh?" 

"We got Vee already." Logan said showing off a picture he took. Remus chuckled as he shook glitter off. 

"Well, then you're missing two people." Remus said. 

Janus beamed. He held up a bag of glitter. "Help?"

Well how could he refuse that offer?

\---

To say that Roman and Patton were surprised was an understatement. They stood, froze as Logan took a picture. "Got you too huh?" Virgil asked sticking his head in, glitter still in his hair.

Janus giggled and dumped the remains of his glitter on Logan who looked at him with wide eyes. "Betrayal!" Logan said dumpling his bag on Janus' who sputtered spitting out glitter.

Everyone laughed before they were all summoned by Thomas who froze in confusion as he saw all of them covered in pink glitter. They looked at him, then at each and laughed more.

"Well at least your having-" thomas was cut off as Remus threw his bag of glitter at him and covering him in pink.


	322. Aromantic or A-Roman-tic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope I didn't gunk this up at all >.<   
> This is my first time writing about Aro so I hope I did well. Let me know if there is anything I should change. Enjoy!

Roman was the romantic side so he knew what romantic feelings felt like...right?

He could totally feel those, haha....

Ok so maybe he didn't feel romantic feelings, and he based his advice off more knowledge than emotion. So that might have caused his advice to be...strange sometimes. Or seem a little extreme. 

Maybe that's why he liked little space so much, he didn't have to worry about the fact that he couldn't do his job right. That there was something wrong with him if Logan felt more romantic feelings than he did. 

He tended to be able to avoid thinking about it when he was little but he couldn't get his mind off it this time. He sat on the floor with Remus watching him as he played with cars.

Remus picked up on his mood. "What's got you down tiny terror tot." 

Roman huffed. "I'm five. I'm not a tot." He said weakly. Not putting his normal offended voice behind it. Now Remus knew something was wrong. He just stared at Roman till the little looked away. "I...I think I'm... Broken." Roman said.

Remus pulled him into his lap. "Why is that?" Remus asked softly.

"Cuz...I don't feel love right." Roman confessed. Remus frowned.

"What do you mean?" 

"I'm the Romantic side but I can't feel that feeling! I never feel it!" Roman said.

Remus took a moment to wrap his head around that. "And that makes you broken?" Remus asked. Roman teared up. Remus hugged him. "It doesn't make you broken, mini Royal pain."

"It's my job." Roman said firmly. Glaring at his hands in his lap.

"I'm asexual and that's never stopped me from doing my job." Remus said.

Roman looked up at him shocked. "You are?" 

Remus shrugged as if this wasn't a big deal. And maybe it wasn't. Roman still did his job. He did it well even. 

"Besides, Patton is Thomas' feelings, not you." Remus said. Roman blinked. He hadn't thought of it that way before.

"Not broken?" Roman whispered.

"Not broken." Remus promised. 

Roman was more open about his lack of romantic attraction after that, surprised at how easily everyone accepted him as Aromantic, and that they believe he could still be the romanic side. 

He felt loved, and in a way he felt too. He didn't need to feel romantic love to be perfectly fine. He was fine as he was.


	323. Sugar rush

Remy wouldn't meet Logan's disapproving gaze as Patton bounced around the room.

"He wouldn't calm down so you gave him hot chocolate." Logan said slowly trying to understand the logic behind that.

Remy coughed. "He did sit down for a bit to drink it." Remy excused lamely.

Patton bounced up to Logan and tugged on his shirt. "Hug?" The five year old little asked. 

Logan hugged him as Remy tried to slip out of the room.

"Where do you think you're going?" Logan asked.

"What? Can't hear you... it's too far.... bye!" Remy ducked out of the room.

Logan sighed as Patton giggled. "Can we play hopscotch and leap frog and Candy Land and tag and-"

Logan sighed again as he watched Patton bounce in place. This was going to be a long afternoon.

\---

Midway through their second game of candy land, the sugar crush hit and Patton leaned against Logan before falling asleep.

"You can't just...." Logan shook his head and scooted so he could hold Patton so that his neck wouldn't hurt when he woke up. 

That was the last time Remy was allowed to babysit.


	324. Lonely

Remus had a problem, if people ignored him then he got weaker. He couldn't summon things and he tended to regress younger. Normally this wasn't a problem, he popped up, got attention no problem. But now.

Ever since he introduced himself to Thomas, his room merged with Roman's room. Meaning they were stuck together in their free time. Which meant he was being ignored instead of just him being alone in his down time. 

He didn't need constant attention but there was a difference between him saying something to an empty room and not getting an answer and him saying something to his brother and not getting an answer. 

So when he was in the middle of ranting about his thoughts and summoning throwing knives to hit the ceiling with, all of a sudden he couldn't summon anymore. He waved his hand confused before looking over at Roman who was working and saw he had headphones on, clearly blocking out Remus' rambling. 

Remus Regressed, just a little. Only a couple years, not noticeable but enough to make him feel off. He left the room acutely aware that Roman wouldn't even notice he was gone.

He felt himself getting younger. Getting a bit shorter, he tried snapping himself into smaller clothing but it didn't work. He huffed annoyed and plopped down onto the couch. He quickly noticed that Neither Virgil or Logan had seemed to care that he showed up. 

He shot a death glare at both of them before rolling to his feet and heading to the kitchen. Janus and Patton were cooking. They didn't look over when he said hi. They didn't care that he was there.

He dropped all the way down to a toddler and sat down in his oversized clothing. He wailed causing the duo to jump. He cried as Janus moved over and picked him up snapping him into a onesie. 

"Shhh it's ok." Janus said. 

Remus disagreed. It was most certainly not ok! Buy at least someone was paying attention to him now maybe-

Janus glanced over at the stove and cursed before putting Remus down and rushing over to put out the flames.

Remus sniffed before crawling over into an cupboard. He curled up under the dish towels feeling ignored. He listened for Janus to call his name or to notice that he wasn't there and….he didn't.

"He's fine." Patton said when Janus voiced his confusion about Remus leaving.

Fine. Being alone was fine. Being ignored was fine. 

Remus silently cried as he stick his thumb in his mouth and waited for someone to notice him. 

He fell asleep and woke up to them having supper...without him...and they didn't care that he wasn't there and-

Roman saw him as he crawled out of the cupboard. He blinked in surprise. "How long as Remus been little? And...in the cupboard?"

Logan, who was the closest got up and picked up Remus who tightly grabbed his tie to make sure he wasn't betrayed and set down again. "You hungry bitty?" Logan asked sitting down again with Remus on his lap.

Remus beamed, happy to be noticed. "Nom noms." He muttered around his thumb.

"Yeah. It's time for nom noms." 

\---

They liked Remus Regressed. They paid attention to him. They played with him. Loved him. 

Remus was conflicted, so he was ranting out loud. Roman was in the room but since when did his brother listen to him anyway? 

"I mean it just seems like it would be better if I was Regressed all the time. Then I wouldn't feel so...lonely."

"You feel lonely?" Remus jumped at the fact that Roman said something...to him! Roman was looking at him intensely.

"Well yes. No like you're much company with your back turned all the time." Remus blurted out.

Roman frowned and got up, for a moment Remus wondered if he had gone too far before Roman was hugging him. 

He sat there stunned. Before slowly putting his arms around Roman. 

"I'm sorry." Roman said.

Maybe things would get better now.


	325. Finding home part two

Virgil hadn't been home for a week. Janus was getting nervous. Ok, he was beyond nervous and full on panicking. Virgil hadn't even called. He just said he was going to see Patton and didn't know when he would be back. Janus rolled his eyes at Virgil's snippy behavior and told him to take his time.

Something it seems the little did.

Janus couldn't handle it anymore and he called Roman since he didn't have Patton's number.

"What?"

"Is virgil there?" Janus asked in a strained tone.

"Yes. I'll have him call you back." Roman said. "He's little at the moment."

Since Janus couldn't hear any crying he assumed that they were taking care of him. "Roman." Janus said before the other could hang up.

"Yeah?"

Janus had to spit the words out, "Thank you." He hung up and set his phone down before putting his head in his hands. Why did he feel so guilty?

\---

Virgil was sitting on the floor with Patton. Patton was playing peek-a-boo with the little who was on the older side today but still enjoying the game.

Virgil giggled as Patton uncovered his face. "Peek a boo!"

"A boo." Virgil echoed reaching out and grabbing Patton hands and moving them back in front of the caregivers face before moving them away. "A booooo."

Patton beamed at him. "Good job!"

Virgil wiggled happy, he saw Roman and Logan watching and hid behind his hands. "Aww is someone being shy-"

"A BOO!" Virgil said beaming at Logan and Roman as they looked at him shocked. Patton laughed as hugged Virgil and the other two caregivers smiled.

It took awhile for Virgil to get comfortable with them. Even if things were still tense between Virgil and Roman when he was big, he was more than happy to play with Roman when he was little.

"A boo...a boo...a boo." Virgil chanted as he snuggled against Patton. 

"Peek a boo." Patton said before the doorbell rang. 

Roman stood up to get it. He opened the door and found Remus there. "Hey Ro-bro."

"What are you doing here?" Roman asked crossing his arms. Before either of them could say anything else Virgil saw Remus.

"Re! Re! A boo!" Virgil said excited peeking at Remus from behind his fingers. 

Remus beamed at him and raised an eyebrow at Roman who huffed before stepping aside to let him in. Remus was quick to drop down to the ground in front of Virgil and Patton.

"Heya. How's my favorite emo?" Remus asked.

Virgil responded by grabbing Remus' hands and lifting them to cover his face before moving them away. "A boo!" 

"Peek a boo. I see." Remus said seriously nodding. 

Virgil giggled before worming out of Patton's lap and onto Remus'. Roman made an offended noise as Patton coo'd at how cute It was that Virgil wanted to be with his friend. 

"You want a snack?" Patton asked. "There's blueberries."

"Noms." Virgil replied. 

Patton nodded before looking at Remus. "You want some too?" 

Remus blinked, "I guess?" 

"You'll be staying for awhile if Virgil is going to be clingy." Logan stated. Honestly Remus didn't mind. 

He hugged Virgil who beamed at the hug. Even Roman couldn't be upset about it. 

Virgil had his whole family…. Almost.


	326. Drinks on the house

Remy had a habit of leaving his drink unattended, Logan when he was little had a habit of taking other people’s food. So when Remy reached out for his drink and found it gone it told him two things. 

One that Logan was regressed,

Two that his very very sugary coffee was going to be gone and he was going to have a hyper five year old to look after.

He found Logan bouncing on his bed. An empty starbucks cup on the floor. He crossed his arms and waited for Logan to notice that he was there. Logan’s bouncing stopped and he had the nerve to look innocent.

“You won’t happen to know where my drink when?” Remy asked.

“Umm..no?” Logan said as he said down on the bed cross legged. His eyes darted to the cup on the ground. 

Remy raised an eyebrow and waited. “Ok, I stole it….sorry.” Logan muttered.

“You know you’re not supposed to steal other people’s food.” Remy said firmly.

Logan squirmed, “But...I wanna have some too.” 

“Then you ask.” Remy said picking up the cup and throwing it away. 

“But you all say no!” Logan protested. 

“Maybe we have a reason for that Buddy.” Remy said sitting down on the bed next to Logan. 

Logan huffed. Remy had to focus on not laughing at how grumpy Logan was about it. He cleared his throat and looked away to make sure Logan couldn’t see the faint smile on his face. 

“Time out time bud.” Remy said firmly as soon as he got his expression under control. Logan looked at him shocked.

“But… I said sorry!” Logan exclaimed. 

“True, but you still stole my drink.” Remy said. “You know the rule. Five minutes.” 

Logan glared at him as he got off the bed and stomped over to the corner before crossing his arms and facing the wall. Remy pulled out his phone and set the timer. He didn’t leave the room while they both waited for time to be up. 

As soon as the timer beeped Logan turned around and looked at Remy slightly unsure if he was allowed to leave the corner. Remy nodded. “Time’s up buddy.” Remy opened his arms, offering a hug. More often than not Logan wanted confirmation in the form of affection that his caregiver wasn’t mad at him after he was punished. 

Logan crawled into Remy’s lap. “Sorry.” 

“Are you going to do it again?” Remy asked.

“...Probably.” Logan answered honestly. Remy couldn’t help but snort at that. He hugged the little and resigned to the fact that He needed to watch his drinks more carefully.


	327. Pinky peach

Thomas was nervous about being little. Sure Remy and Emile knew and supported him. And they offered to watch him. So no problem right?

He was on the edge of regressing but was trying as hard as he could to hold out till he was alone. Remy had had a long day and probably didn’t want to deal with him regressed at the moment. Emile seemed to notice that Thomas was close to Regressing. 

“Are you feeling a bit small?” He asked gently causing Thomas to slip. 

He shifted and looked down before nodding. “Sorry.” 

“For what?” Remy asked. 

“Being small.” Thomas hugged himself. 

Emile and Remy looked at each other. They knew that Thomas had been avoiding Regressing around them, but he never explained why. “You don’t need to apologize for that.” Emile said.

Thomas shrunk in on himself. “Ok.” He whispered. 

“Do you think we’ll be mad at you for Regressing?” Remy asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“I dunno...maybe?” Thomas avoided looking at them.

“Can I give you a hug?” Emile asked.

Thomas looked up shocked at the offer before nodding. Emile moved slowly so as to not startle him. Thomas was stiff and his arms remained around himself. “Do you want to play a game?” 

Thomas hesitated before nodding. They played a game of candy land, both Remy and Emile cheating to make sure Thomas won. He was surprised that he won and finally smiled for the first time in an hour. 

Remy and Emile relaxed as they managed to get Thomas to let himself relax. “Someone want a snack?” 

Thomas nodded, “Grilled cheese?” 

Emile went to make the sandwich while Remy watched the little. Thomas scooted closer to Remy. “Can I…”

“Yeah?” 

“Glasses?” Thomas asked. 

Remy took the glasses from off the top of his head and handed them to Thomas who put them on. “Dark.” Was the little’s comment that made Remy laugh. 

“Yeah that’s the point.” he said taking the glasses back. Thomas froze as the glasses were taken back before looking down, tense again. Remy internally cursed, “What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing.” Thomas whispered. Remy reached out to put his hand on Thomas’ shoulder and the little flinched before shivering. 

“I’m not going to hurt you.” Remy said frowning. 

“Sorry.” Thomas whispered, his eyes wet and he was trying to blink back the tears. 

“You haven’t done anything wrong.” Remy said pulling the sunglasses off and offering them to the little. 

Thomas seemed too afraid to take them. “No...No thank you.” He whispered looking up at Remy before looking down at the ground. 

“I didn’t take them because I was mad.” Remy explained.  
Thomas peeked up at him, “You aren’t?” 

“Not at all. Ok bud?” Remy said still holding out the glasses. Thomas slowly took them again. 

When Emile came back with the Sandwich Thomas waited till he said it was ok for him to eat it before picking it up. Remy and Emile weren’t sure why Thomas was acting so scared but figured that he would tell them in his own time.

**Author's Note:**

> I would love suggestion for this book! If there's some non-sexual agere stuff you wanna see, leave a comment and I'll see what I can do!
> 
> Btw I don't mind people pointing out spelling or grammar errors.
> 
> Give me a color and I'll write a surprise fic. ;3


End file.
